Limited Time
by KoToriNoKo
Summary: A slow pace story of Zoro and Perona's everyday life, as well as how Mihawk trains Zoro. Chapter 17 – Their First Mission given by Mihawk on a Snow Island! Coming to an end in one more chapter!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, I hope you enjoy this fan fiction, please review and comment! :)**

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**Their Start - Introduction**

The Sun set partially cloaked by the mist on Kuraigana Island, taking away its breathtaking glow while sending a hint of inhospitality. The dense sculpture of the remaining ruins casted a mosaic of shadows on the ground. It was clearly once a land of destruction, a region of desolation and silence. It looks like there are no inhabitants on this land of despair except for the Baboons and the World Greatest Swordsman. However, the recent string of events led to 2 youngsters getting access involuntarily to the Castle on Kuraigana Island, and hence, the story of them 3.

The castle was well-build, durable and strong despite the history it has gone through. The highly arched ceilings are decorated with dust and cobwebs, the oil lamps hung along the high walls provide the only source of light to the dimly lighted dining room. Metals on the oil lamps are rusted, the paints around the walls wore off, each gives off a seemingly eerie touch to the castle together with the inclement atmosphere.

This eerie feeling will normally be welcome for a certain ghost girl, but now, she has no time to indulge herself in this tranquil scene. She has, for some reason, abided to cook Dinner for them after Mihawk shot her a mere glance. **A mere glance.** She didn't know he was so intimidating until today, but there was no time to be impressed. If her feeling is right, she's going to bear all this chores unless she, or they, leaves this island, which basically looks impossible to her either way. She has to think of a way to get out of this situation, she bears the title of Ghost Princess, not Ghost Servant!

Perona's cooking skill wasn't the best, but she has a knack for handmade stuffs, which, includes decorating the food. Dinner was served to Mihawk and Zoro with the food being decorated like Kumashi, a name for Perona's favorite plush toy. Brown rice are knead together in an over shape, forming a body, thin slices of radish as bandages and mask for decorations on Kumashi. Together with the white radish, blue-colored rice adorned the crown of Kumashi, bits of sesame seeds are also added as the eyes.

"Where…did you get the blue rice?" Zoro asked warily, looking at the not-so-edible dinner. He can't believe he is going to eat such food from now on.

"Coloring for my cloth, don't worry, it won't stain your tongue," Perona answered while looking happily at her masterpiece. _Kumashi is just so cute, especially when it can't talk. Horo horo horo!_

_That's not the problem here!_ Zoro kept the comment to himself. Zoro looked at Mihawk, who already bravely started to eat, not the blue rice of course, but the other ingredients around.

Mihawk started by eating the safest looking food, the rolled up fried egg placed beside Kumashi. _Too sweet. _He comment inwardly but his face remains emotionless, he have never been one that show too much emotion.

"How was it? Nice right? I knew it! No one can say no against such cute and sweet food! " A satisfactory smile play over her infantile features as she took a bite of the fried egg.

Zoro looked at the emotionless Mihawk and decided to eat the egg first, "TOO SWEET! JUST HOW MUCH SUGAR DID YOU ADD?!" Zoro almost sprang out of his seat, he immediately swallow down the egg unable to savor the sweetness of the egg, it's as if every single part of the egg have been coated in sugar syrup. He still can't believe he will be eating this type of food for the next two years; he will need some serious training to prevent diabetes.

"There's a library at the top level, there's culinary books too..." Mihawk made an oblique comment to her cooking style while eating other food. There are a few hotdog that are slice out in the bottom that make it looks like Octopus with 4 legs, it is also decorated with eyes made from sesame seed, as well as a mouth.

"Huh?! So you're saying my food is bad?!" Perona got the hint Mihawk is trying to give and argue back. "Do you have any idea how long I spend to make this?! Be grateful and eat it! If not I'll never cook again!"

"If only you could use half the time in making the food, instead of decorating them, it'll be way better." Zoro commented again, finishing up the food on his plate. With Sanji around, he learned that he shouldn't waste food. Mihawk too, as an experienced pirate who has been through many things, was finishing the food too. Wasting food in this era is a big no; you'll never know what happen the next second when you're are enjoying your, maybe, just eating your dinner now.

After finishing the food, Mihawk stood up and left the dining room, walking slowly back up to his room. There are a total of 4 floors in this castle. His room is also located at the top level of the castle, near the library, while Zoro's and Perona's room is at the 3rd level.

"Ghost girl, tend to Roronoa's wounds later," He said emotionlessly, not even looking down at the youngsters who are still eating.

"Huh?! Why is it me again?! What do I get?! I don't even get any credits for it!" Perona jumped up and started flying towards Mihawk, flying in circles around him.

Mihawk, who doesn't care less, continue walking up the stairs.

"Arghhh! Damn you Mihawk! You cold hearted man! At least say something like 'I'll buy you your favorite cloth and decorative items for you!' " Saying the latter sentence in a sweeter and softer tone.

"Fine," Mihawk answered with a short answer and continue to walk up to his room. Perona was stunned by his sudden answer as she can never imagine how it is like for the legendary swordsman to buy cloth and even sparkling cute stuffs. By the time she regain her conscious to the fact that Mihawk have agreed, Mihawk have disappear from her view. She then swirls happily around the air and slowly flies down the dining table again, finishing her cute food happily.

"Heh, agreeing to be a maid just to get paid with some cloth, pathetic," Zoro smirked as he also stand up, preparing to leave the dining room.

"Ne-ga-tive Ho-llow," Perona said calmly with a menacing tone, she have been doing this to Zoro every time she is unhappy with him, so much that she just say it calmly now instead of shouting like what she usually do.

"Please let such a worthless wimp like me be your maid instead," Zoro said as he dropped on his knees as a negative and gloomy aura starts to form around him.

"Ha, look who's the pathetic one now! Just to let you know, I'm just helping to tend to your wounds so you don't die too fast and can play with me!" Perona smirked, she enjoy looking at how the always-so-serious swordsman kneeing down to her.

"You bitch! Stop using that on me! And I'm not here to play with a stupid ghost!" Zoro gets up on his feet and shout back at the ghost.

"Huh?! I'm not a ghost! I'm a Ghost Princess! And also, wait! Where do you think you are even going?!" Perona shouted back as she sees the swordsman getting up and started to leave the dining room.

"My Room, Miss Ghost." He can't believe he will need to stay with this irritating and childish ghost for 2 years.

"Like I said, I'm a Ghost Princess, not a normal ghost! I… I mean I'm not a ghost! And on top of that! Do you even know how to return to your room?!"

"Huh?! Are you stupid? Of course I know, we stay in the 3rd floor right? My room is the first one on the right." Zoro looked at her with the are-you-stupid-look, and walked towards the stairs.

Perona remained quiet as Zoro is correct, and this time he successfully saw the stairs and walk up, instead of walking towards the imaginary stairs that he used to have. Perona then leave him alone and start to keep the dishes.

_Wait! He supposed to wash the dishes!_

Perona looked up, hoping to see the Swordsman still lingering around so that she could get him to do some work. Much to her dismay, she pouts against the sight of the dark and empty staircase.

_Arghhh! Damn that Kuma! _She cursed inwardly. She can't believe the accompany she always looked forward for in this lonely castle will turn out to be 2 boring and un-cute swordsman.

Many 'can't believe' for the two youngster, and same goes for Mihawk who is deeply amazed by how the string of fate lead the 3 of them together in this castle. As their stay continues, they will get to know each other more, and will there be anymore 'can't believe' moments for them?

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**Please share with me your point of view regarding the story thus far, if there are any OOC-ness, mistakes here and there and so on, thanks a lot! See ya! ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece.**

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**Chapter 2 - His First Time Looking At Her Serious Face**

Perona stepped into Zoro's room after she finished washing the dishes.

Her big round eyes quickly scanned across the room. No sign of Zoro. She sighed.

_He's most likely lost again._ His sense of direction baffles her as usual. Perona floated up and fly out of Zoro's room. She swirled around up and down and used her ghost network to look for Zoro.

Finally, she caught a glimpse of Zoro running about at the 2nd level, and facing the wall.

"I remember clearly there is a stair here," Zoro mumbled to himself. He has been in this castle for some time and he should know where all the stairs are located at.

"Oi! What are you doing here?!" Perona shouted at him while flying towards him.

"Then what are you doing with your umbrella open in the castle?" Zoro asked inattentively, preoccupied by thinking why the stair suddenly disappeared.

"This is call fashion! Fashion! Stupid swordsman like you won't know such stuffs. So, what are you doing here?!"

"Oi, did you do something to the castle? Why does it look the same everywhere I go?"

"Huh?! What… Argh! Hurry up and follow me!" Perona fly ahead of him and lead the way. Dusts can be seen accumulating along the stairs as they went by, she made a note to self that she will make her servant clean the entire castle. _Soon, _she smirked to herself as she habitually turn back to look at her servant.

Her eyes grew wide as she saw the green hair swordsman walking to the left. _Seriously, didn't he just said he know his room is on the right?!_

"Oi! Where are you going?! Right is here!" Perona shrieked as the green hair man scratched his head and walked pass her.

"Oi! The first one on the right! Where are you going?! Urghh! Moria-sama, just how do I deal with such a person?!" She squealed as she saw him walking past his room. _How can such person be worth a bounty of 120,000,000 beri, does he ever get lost from fighting with the enemy?!_

"Ah? Oh..." He frowned, clearly unhappy to have some little girl giving him directions.

"Go in. Bathe. I'll come back later to take care of your wounds after I bathe in my room."

Perona turn away and walk back to the left, her room is the first room from the left. Suddenly she stop, "Wait!"

"Huh?"

"Let me warn you! I forbid you to step a single step into my room! You understand?!"

"Nobody is interested in you bathing."

"HUH?! I DON'T MEAN THAT! But never mind, just make sure don't ever step into my room!" Perona fly into her room while Zoro went into his.

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Most of the rooms in the castle have their own bathroom, including Perona and Zoro's.

Zoro room is simple, he didn't bother to decorate it, and neither did he have the chance. On the other hand, Perona's room is fully decorated, mostly filled with black, red, pink and sometimes white.

Perona finished bathing and walk back into Zoro's room to see him already sitting down at the side of his bed, using a cotton ball to tap the blade of his katana.

"You're so slow," Zoro commented as he continues to do what he is doing.

"Shut up and take off your clothes! If it wasn't for what Mihawk promised me with, you think I'll bother so much about you?"

Perona grab the first-aid box that is on top of the drawer at one side and walked towards Zoro.

Zoro kept his katana and took off his top as Perona sat beside him and examine the old and new scars.

"You don't really have to tend to my wounds. I can do it myself actually," Zoro wanted to take the first-aid box from Perona but Perona swing it back to prevent him from taking.

"Apparently you have no idea why I'm here. If you can do it yourself, is there a need for Mihawk to get me to help you?" She remember there's a time when he tried to deal with the wounds himself, and end up he can't even clean them properly, especially those cuts on his back and other smaller cuts around. He even find it stupid to bandage the wounds when he still have to train the next day, and get more wounds, not mentioning about how tedious it is as it will restrict his movements.

Perona opened up the first-aid box and took out cotton pad and medication oil. She wet the cotton pad with medication oil and applies on the scars. Some of the wounds are deep and she wonders how he held on so long with such a straight face.

"Like I say… What's the point of bandaging them when I'll get them tore off the next day when I train?" He doesn't understand the logic.

"Shut up before I leave you alone! You stupid half-dead swordsman!" Perona suddenly applied more pressure onto his wounds and saw him twitching his eyebrow, and immediately regret it.

"Isn't it painful?" Both the old and new scars looked very painful, to be honest, she still doesn't get how he can live so long with all the scars on him.

"I'm used to it."

"Is it even possible to be used to such stuffs?!" Perona took out rolls of bandages and start by bandaging the scars from his waist and chest area, Zoro automatically lifts his arms slightly higher so that she can wrap them up.

Perona kneeled down beside him on the bed as she twirls the roll of bandage around his chest area, her right arm moved to the other side of his body with her left arm reach out from the other side to grab the roll, and continue to bandage, for that moment it seems like Perona is hugging him. Perona felt herself close to his chest for merely just a few seconds, and make a note to self that she will get him to stand up and wrap any wounds by walking around him instead.

She felt embarrassed as it was her first time being so close to a guy; well, excluding Kumashi as well as other plush toys. Not even to Moria-sama have she been so close to. She wondered if she blushed as she could feel herself hot around her face and cheek area.

Roronoa Zoro being very sensitive to his surrounding obviously notice Perona's little body's stiffness even if it's for a second. Well, more like he notice it because he felt awkward initially, and began to think if Perona felt the same, which is that exact moment he saw her arms stiffened up a bit.

"I don't need those. It'll only make my movement slower." Zoro think of something to say to cover up the awkwardness, and apparently this is the only thing he can come up with.

"You don't need any movements anyway; just wrap it, stupid half-dead swordsman." Perona grunted softly, scolding him at the end, trying to hide her embarrassment at the same time. After finishing bandaging up the rest of his wounds, she kept the first-aid box away.

After Perona leave the room, Zoro lazily lie on the bed preparing to sleep, not giving the small incident just now any more thought. Well, it's normal to feel a little awkward when someone comes near to you, isn't it. Before he can even get into a comfortable position, he heard footsteps of a certain noisy being again. He turned around and looked towards the door to see Perona walk in with a basket of cloth and sewing materials.

"What are you doing?"

"Sewing Kumashi," Perona answered as she sits on the chair beside Zoro's bed.

"I can see that much! But why are you doing it in my room?!" Zoro sits up and asked her. Perona was wearing her Pajamas instead of what she normally wears. It was a long and thin black gown with a spaghetti strap. It's his first time looking at her in her pajamas, and he could see a pink bat tattoo on her left arm. _Looks like she really like pink a lot. _She is also not wearing her red boots, but a black slipper. She also let down her hair, instead of tying it up in two pigtails as usual; there is also no sign of her crown and her favorite umbrella.

"Of course to make sure you don't take out the bandages!" _And also to make sure he don't get a fever_, she remember how beat up Zoro was when he first arrived, he was even having a high fever, and she have to stay up all night just to monitor his condition.

"I won't," Zoro lie back down on the bed, thinking if this is how she took care of him earlier when Mihawk isn't back yet. Look like he really owes her a life.

"Why are you making plush toys? It's so childish."

"It's not childish! It's cute, and they are always with me..." Perona say without paying much attention to Zoro as she is focusing on making the plush toy on her lap, it was yet another Kumashi-liked plush toy.

"Is that the Kumashi you're always babbling about?"_ And the Kumashi we eaten for dinner just now. _

"Yes."

"Why do you always make it?"

"Why do you have so many questions today?"

"…"

"It's because Kumashi is very cute. Only when it doesn't talk though…"

Zoro look at Perona and saw her serious face for the first time, _looks like she can be serious when it comes to certain thing_. Zoro closed his eyes attempting to sleep, he can only hear the sound of his and Perona's breathing, once a while, a few murmuring by Perona, and sometimes, Perona will place her warm hand on his forehead, and in the midst of all this, he finally fall asleep. During his sleep, he can still feel Perona's presence beside him; only later in the morning did she finally leave the room.

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**Review-!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi! :) Sorry I forgot to put the Disclaimer previously. Anyway, One Piece does not belongs to me, it belongs to Eiichiro Oda! :)**

**I hope you enjoy the story thus far and please review thank you! :)**

**By the way, this story is slightly longer than most other chapters, so... read it nevertheless! **

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**Chapter 3 - Their First Visit To Kawarime! Part 1!**

It was morning, but it was still dark and gloomy in the dining room of the castle which is in the middle of the Kuraigana Island. The 3 sat around the long table, quietly eating their breakfast.

Breakfast, is apparently by far, the safest meal of all as they just eat bread with butter, and a drink for each of them. Obviously wine for Mihawk, he seems to have endless supply of wine, normal drinks like coffee and tea for Zoro, since there is no supply of Sake, as well as a warm cup of cocoa for Perona.

Perona sipped slowly from her warm cup of cocoa as she closed her eyes with a blissful expression. _Sweet._

"We're short on wine. Head to the nearest island and restock on other necessities," Mihawk said as he dropped a stack of beri on the table, and 2 eternal log pose, as well as a piece of paper. "Roronoa can go with Perona to see if you need anything. Perona, you can use the money to buy whatever cloth or things you want." Mihawk finished his sentence as he walk up the stairs again. Apparently the money was mainly for his wine, and the leftover are for the daily necessity as well as for the deal Mihawk made with Perona earlier.

"Huh?! But you are supposed to be the one to buy…" Perona pout while complaining and float up a bit to look at the eternal pose and the piece of paper.

Mihawk shoot the little girl a stern glare, or maybe it was just his usual glare, and continued, "Use the small boat at the coast."

"Geez… Why is that stupid swordsman so intimidating?" Perona looked at the 2 eternal pose on her hand and saw the word "Kuraigana" and "Kawarime" printed on it. "Kawarime… It's been a long time since I've been there."

Zoro eyed her a curious look, asking if she went there before, but Perona ignored her as she was deep in her thoughts.

"Hurry up and eat finish, I'll go back to my room to prepare a while, I'll meet you at the main entrance. Horo horo horo!" Perona fly back to her room, laughing her special laugh.

_Why does it seem like she's suddenly in a good mood? _Zoro stood up as he start to think about the Sake he can buy later and a smirk appeared on his face.

He walked towards the nearest wall, "Now to go to the main entrance…"

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"Like I say, you better stick close to me in this Town! I don't want to go around searching for some green hair!" Apparently for Perona, the green hair is the most striking feature of the Swordsman.

The swordsman remained quiet and grumpy, he didn't like people saying that he get lost easily. Why? Because he don't.

Kawarime Island is a Island totally opposite of Kuraigana Island, it is full of people and crowds, there's no gloomy atmosphere around and sounds of happy humans chattering can be heard.

The ever so grumpy Swordsman and the eerie Ghost Princess walked down the road with stalls beside them, and people screaming and shouting for a good bargains. Stores selling different things along the street, women crowd around at jewelry shops and boutiques, older women crowd around grocery shop while little kids running through the streets playing their usual games.

Zoro is wearing his usual long pants and white plain top, the blood on it was washed off by Perona earlier; while Perona is wear her usual outfit, a top with a red outerwear, a miniskirt with a pair of black and white stripes leggings up until her thigh. Perona, as usual, is holding on to her umbrella, which still, looks weird even though they are out in the sun now, as it was a fine day with cooling weather. Zoro on the other hand, is pushing a big wooden cart and following Perona. He don't understand why they need such a big cart, even with Mihawk's long list of wine to buy, as well as the groceries and necessities they bought just a while ago that supposed to last them for a week, it only take up less than half of the space in the cart.

"Are you sure you know where you are heading? I don't want to walk aimlessly with you," Zoro asked, his eyes scanning the surrounding, there's something weird with this place. It looks like a maze to him.

"Huh?! I don't want to hear that coming from you. I know where I'm going so just focus all your attention on following me!" She really find there's something wrong with this swordsman, sometimes he just go off to other direction when she clearly tell him to **follow her**.

_Focus all the attention on her? Oh that reminds me. _

"Oi Perona, why aren't you flying as usual?"

"Huh?! Wha…" Perona turned back and looked at that Swordsman, _did he really literally just focus on his attention on me when I asked him too?! No, I mean I want him to focus on me because of his sense of direction but… Aren't he focusing on the wrong thing?!_

"Is it because there are too many people, and you're afraid that people will see your panties when you fly?" He have been thinking about this for some time, but never wanted to ask, until suddenly just a while ago, he just burped it out from his mind.

"HUH?! WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!" Perona stared hard at that stupid swordsman in front of her, she can feel her face feeling hot again, but she is not sure if it is because she is angry at the swordsman to ask such question, or she is embarrassed at what the swordsman asked. Wait, in fact, more like she is not sure she is feeling hot in her face because she is angry at how the swordsman actually notices that, or she is embarrassed at what the swordsman noticed.

"Just saying," Zoro wasn't shock by her exaggerating expression because he was pretty much used to it, but because of that expression of hers, then he realizes how awkward his question is. He quickly brush it off with a "Just saying" and continue to walked forward pushing the cart.

"Wait! You stupid half-dead perverted Swordsman, wait! How can you just say "Just saying" after that! You better give me a clear explanation!" _WAIT! WHAT AM I DOING?! What kind of explanation do I expect from him?! Perona _is so nervous she just spouts anything that comes to her mind without even thinking, she just wanted to keep saying something to hide her embarrassment.

"Huh? What kind of explanation do you want?" Zoro smirked.

_Shit, he just asked a question I don't know how to answer._

"I… I mean, doesn't that just mean you've been staring at me to notice such things?! Urghh! I can't believe you're actually such a pervert!" Perona was still feeling hot in her face, and she stomped off away from that green hair pervert, leaving him pushing the cart behind her.

She is feeling so embarrassed that she is so confused now, thinking things like "Maybe I shouldn't fly in front of people anymore", or "Maybe I should wear longer skirts or shorts" and stuffs. She's feeling frustrated for some various reason that are unknown because of how angry she is right now, and the smirk on that pervert just keep flashing in her mind.

_How can he just smirk with that face after that?! It's clearly his fault isn't it!_

Perona continue walking on the street with her umbrella open, and grumping to herself until she spot the familiar shop that she have been looking for. She tried to shake the thoughts off her mind as she stepped in.

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On the other hand, the perverted Swordsman is currently pushing the cart through the market, almost aimlessly, thinking about what just happened a while ago.

_Where is that woman, did she got lost? I knew it, she have been walking aimlessly all along. _

_On top of that, she looks pretty angry, and embarrassed._

Even the swordsman himself does not know why he suddenly asks that question, probably out of boredomness, but he does know it's not the first time he thinks about that. The first time was actually when they are walking through the woods looking for a way out to the sea and find some random boat around, that was when he was in a clear mind to think about such stuffs, and Perona was flying in front of him. That was the time he realize Perona's stripe legging was only until her thigh, and immediately upon realizing that, he turned his head away to prevent himself looking at anymore stuffs.

He's not a pervert.

He turned his head away, so he's not a pervert.

At least, that's what he think he is, but he know that he just said something that make her think he's a pervert. Not that he care anyway, but he does find it funny when that Ghost girl is at a loss for words, she talks too much sometime.

Zoro's memory trailed back to when he ask her what kind of explanation she wanted, he is seriously wondering what her answer will be, if she didn't choose to walk away instead. Zoro smirked again, thinking that he finally win the Ghost Princess for once as he make her at a loss for words. The Ghost Princess must be too startled that she didn't even use her signature move against him.

Zoro continued to stroll along the street to look for the Ghost Princess as he saw something dropped beside him on the ground. He stopped, his hand still holding on to the handle of the cart, and looked at the thing that dropped on the floor. It is a ragged and torn soft toy of a bear with pink and white cloths around; he moved his eyes up to see a boy running towards the soft toy.

The boy has a head of blonde hair and is wearing a bright pink shirt with floral prints and black shorts. He run towards Zoro and picked up the soft toy on the ground, he pat it clean from the dust and held it close to his chest like it was his treasure.

"Haha! Little girl, little girl~ Playing little dolls!" A group of boys chanted in a rhythm, running towards the small boy. Their laughter continues, mocking the blonde hair boy who is still holding on to the ragged soft toy.

"I'm not a girl! I'm a man!" The little boy shouted back at the group of kids in front of him, still holding on to the soft toy, it certainly doesn't look convincing with that, and especially with the pink floral print shirt.

_Man?_ Zoro raised his eyebrow and examine the small boy in front of him.

"Hahaha! A man doesn't play with soft toys! A man doesn't wear pink floral shirts!" The group of kids mocks him again; one of them with a bigger size walked towards the boy and pulled the soft toy away from him.

"It doesn't matter if a man play soft toys or not! But a man protects his own stuffs!" The blonde hair boy struggled and pulls it back, but apparently the bigger boy have more strength and tore off one leg of the soft toy, with the sudden lack of energy that is opposing him earlier, the blonde hair boy lost his balance and fall to the ground on his knees.

Zoro continued to monitor what is happening in front of him, he wanted to see what this young man in front of him can do, and he don't want to interrupt him. The group of kids also doesn't seem to matter his existence like he is just some stranger. On top of that, the adults walking through the street doesn't seem to be bothered by the bullying, and no one seems like they're going to give a helping hand.

"Haha! Looks like you fail to protect your girly soft toy! Anyway someone without Father won't stand a chance against us, haha!" The kids laughed again. The blonde hair boy ignored them and slowly pushed himself up. His already ragged soft toy is now even more torn and battered. His floral print shirt is also dirtied by dust on the ground.

Zoro saw his shoulder shuddered as if he is crying, but realize otherwise. The blonde kid was in fact, actually seething with anger that he is shuddering, he held his fist tight and pounced onto the bigger kid and give him a few punches to the face.

"It doesn't matter if I have a father or not, I have more than that! Return my treasure to me!" The big kid fell onto the ground by the sudden weight coming to him, his hand dropped the torn leg of the soft toy on the floor, the blonde kid then picked it up and jump away from him. He tried to run away but was stopped by the other kids. They pushed him down and surround him, wanting to give him a good beating, which was until then, Zoro decided to step in.

Zoro rested the cart on the street and with his big figure (by comparing to the kids), walked to the middle of the group with ease and picked up the blonde hair kid on his back by his collar.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?" The bigger kid asked in an intimidating voice at the nosey green-haired stranger.

"Huh?" Zoro turned over and show off his intimidating face also, which was feared by most adults, much less little kids. The little kids then turned and run away from him together, screaming and shouting inaudible words.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?" This time, it comes from the blonde hair kid which is still in the grips of Zoro.

"I don't need any help from the likes of you! You stupid green-hair idiot! Let me down! I can kick their ass myself! I am a man!" The blonde hair kid hugged the torn soft toy and its part to his chest.

He struggled and kicked in all directions, and Zoro loosen his grip, which make the kid fall to the ground unexpectedly. The kid fall down on his knees again, but quickly got up.

"Hmph!" The kid turned his head away proudly and walked away, actually, more like limping away. Without fail, he fell down after a few steps and tried to help himself up again.

_This kid. _Zoro walked towards him and pulled him up by his collar again. This time the kid stopped struggling, but looked at Zoro with an irritated face. _Seriously, this kid. _Zoro ignored his stare and dropped him in the cart, along with the groceries and the wine.

"Where is your house, I sent you home."

"If you insist, I shall let you help me then, walk straight, I'll tell you when you need to turn," the blonde kid said proudly, no intention of thanking the green-hair stranger. Zoro, apparently, already started to dislike this kid. He started to wonder why did he help such an annoying and ungrateful kid.

"Oi! I said that I'll tell you to turn when you need to! Where are you going?! I said move straight first!"

"I know, shut up before I throw you off you stupid kid!"

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The moment Perona stepped into the shop, she was greeted by folds and folds of wonderful cloths and high quality sewing materials. She felt at ease at this familiar place and the sweet scent of the shop smoothed her, immediately, she forgets everything embarrassed that happened just a few moments ago.

"Welcome!" A bright and sweet voice filled the shop, welcoming any customers who walked through the door. The voice belongs to a beautiful woman with dark brown hair, she is the owner of the shop as she is working on some paper work at the counter. The woman move her head up to see who is the customer and her dark brown eyes immediately brighten up. She leaves the counter and walked towards the pink hair girl and hugged her.

"Perona!"

"Kaori-chan!" Perona accept the sudden force that hugged her, and she hugged her back.

"It's been a long time, I'm sorry to hear what happened on Thriller Bark, where have you been?" Kaori pull herself slightly away from Perona and looked at her from up to down. She smiled as she realized Perona haven't changed a bit since they last met.

"I was sent to a gloomy castle by that stupid Kuma, but everything was going well… Well, there are 2 other people living there so it wasn't that lonely. What about you? How have you been?" Perona answered, thinking about the 2 "humans" in the castle, apparently they aren't human, especially the green hair guy, he would have died long ago if he is a human. Thinking about the green hair pervert, what happened a while ago flashed in her mind again, she shook her head hard to forget about that and focus on reuniting with her friend, Kaori-chan.

"The usual, I see you have been pretty happy living there. So what bought you here today?"

"Happy…? I won't say that. All the stupid swordsman there only know how to make me do work. I was coming here to stock up on groceries and wine for them here today. Arghh! If only Moria-Sama can come and save me now!" Perona complained, running towards the big book of cloths sample and examine them.

"Moria-Sama huh…" Kaori murmured, the news of Moria-Sama's death in the Whitebeard War is spread across the sea, she know how dependent Perona is towards Gecko Moria, she too, is also unknowingly depending on Moria's power, and she only realized that after he is dead.

"Moria-Sama isn't dead yet. I'm sure of it. Moria-Sama isn't someone who dies so easily." Perona murmured in a soft voice so that Kaori can hear her, she say in such conviction as if she knows certainly that Moria is alive somewhere.

"Hmm…Kaori-chan, is there any changes since that incident? You know, where Moria-Sama's death news was spread around," continue flipping through the sample book, Perona asked.

Perona herself wasn't sure what the relationship between Kaori and Moria-Sama is, but she knows that 6 year ago, Kaori appeared in Thriller Bark, and Moria-Sama settled her down in Kawarime Island, an Island that fly the flag of Gecko Moria's Jolly Roger, and is under his protection. Moria gave her a house and a shop to occupy her time and from then on, Perona will occasionally come here, sometimes with Moria-Sama, to get their supply of cloth from Kaori's shop.

Nobody in the Island knows about the relationship between Gecko Moria and Kaori, they only know that Gecko Moria have been importing almost all of his cloths and sewing materials from Kaori's shop.

Perona is sure that since Gecko Moria's death, there will certainly be some changes for Kawarime Island, for better or worst she is not sure, she doesn't have that much experience to tell since for almost all her life, she is kept pretty and neatly in the castle, playing with her Kumashi.

"Nope, not much," Kaori smiled sweetly as she know Perona is worried for her, she is afraid Perona will take over Gecko Moria, and take it as a responsibility to protect her.

Perona turned over to Kaori and looked at her, she is smiling sweetly again. "I see, that's good to hear." She knows Kaori-chan like to hide things to herself, but she decided not to probe, Kaori will ask her for help when she need it, especially when she has a son who she need to protect. Speaking of which…

"Kaori-chan, where's Kaito?" Kaito is Kaori's son. 6 years ago, a few weeks after Kaori came onto this island, Kaori was found pregnant for 2 months plus already, the father of the child is unknown, but Perona is sure that Moria-Sama know who it is, just that he doesn't want to tell.

"Kaito is out playing on the street, he will be back soon, speaking of which, what cloths are you looking for this time round?" Kaori notice Perona flipping between the pages of the Sample book, apparently having something in mind.

"I ran out of cloths, the castle have very little cloths in the first place anyway. I have just finished stocking up on groceries and stuffs, so I came here to take a look at the cloths too." Perona answered, her hand running through the green cloths on the sample book.

"These cloths here feel different," Perona commented on the cloth that is sliding through her fingers now, it have an especially good quality, despite the fact that Kaori's cloth are all in good quality, but this one here is on a different league. Perona can't imagine how comfortable it is to wear it.

"I knew you would like it! I came across this cloth when I received the stocks from the exporter. I got him to give me a few sample pieces to put in my shop. Apparently it is quite a famous piece of cloth here in the grand line, it is light weight, comfortable, and is strong in a sense that it is durable." Kaori explained, taking another sample book from the counter, showing it to Perona.

Perona flipped it excitedly, looking at different shades of color, from her favorite Pink to Red and so on. As she flips, she comes across a page of green, ranging from light green to dark green.

She moved her finger along the different shades of green, there's the light green of Zoro's hair, and the green shade of the haramaki on his waist, as well as the dark shade of green that is closer to black of the bandanna on his arm.

"This cloth must be good for that swordsman… and this green…" Perona murmured to herself, she fingers hovered over a dark green cloth.

"I see you have taken a liking to green now. Is it for _that_ swordsman?" Kaori asked, she know that it must be one of the swordsman that is living together with Perona now, from the previous conversation, she know that both of the person living with her now are Swordsman.

"That swordsman…I mean… well I just mean it must be suitable for all swords swordsman, not _that_ in particular…" She explained anxiously, Kaori's laser eyes scan through her, making her even more uneasy. On top of that, why did she even think of that swordsman now! Perona closed the sample book and walked towards the folds of cloth in display, flipping through them to see which one she should by today.

"Just to let you know, if you want that cloth for _any_ swordsman, you have to order it first before I can import it, okay?" Kaori followed her behind her back, amused by this side of Perona that she hasn't seen before, yet. Apparently, she is looking forward to more chances to see more cute side of Perona in the future, and she is sure she will see it.

"Like I said, there's no '_that swordsman'_!"_ And why will I buy cloth for him?! _ Perona continued to flip through the clothes, noting down the code number of the color of the cloth on a piece of paper so that Kaori can bring the stocks to her later.

"I see, a swordsman," Kaori smirked, looking at the pink hair girl in front of her, she laid her back against the wall near the folds of cloths, looking at the street outside the door.

"Stop saying swordsman this and swordsman that!" Perona tried to concentrate on the folds of cloth, noting down some more number.

"Swordsman," Kaori echoed again, apparently trying to annoy Perona.

"Like I say…Stop mentioning the word 'Swordsman'!"

"Swordsman?" A deeper voice can be heard, in fact, quite a familiar voice for Perona.

"Swordsman?!" Kaori's voice strike again, in a more surprised tone.

"Swords…man?" Another cuter voice can be heard, apparently, also a familiar voice for Perona. However, Perona is too annoyed to figure out who the 2 new strangers that are trying to annoy her is.

"Arghh… Who the hell is repeating the word 'Swordsman'?!" Perona turned around, annoyed, and realize the cuter voice is Kaito, Kaori's son, and the owner of the deeper voice is…?

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**I bet you know who it is , but oh well :X**

**Anyway, Please Review! Reviews can be regarding anything, Smoothness of the story thus far, any OOC-ness, english mistakes here and there, and so on. Thanks! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: One Piece doesn't belongs to me, it belongs to Oda Sensei**

**This Part will be slightly shorter, but here you go :) **

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**Chapter 4 - Their First Visit To Kawarime! Part 2!**

"What's with the 'swordsman'?" Zoro stepped into the shop asking, his hand ruffing through the back of his head through his hair. He had placed the cart outside earlier, and beside him stood a blonde hair boy.

"Nothing," Perona's flame of anger in her heart previously slowly extinguish as she saw Zoro walked into the shop, it was overcome by shock, as if she was caught red-handed in an act of something. But she quickly regain her composure and acted as if nothing really happened, she looked beside Zoro and saw the familiar blonde hair boy.

"Kaito?!" Both the female in the shop shouted in surprise, Kaori rushed towards him first, bending down to suit his height.

"Kaito! Did you get into a fight again?!" Kaori's eyebrow furrowed, looking at the dust and dirt on the young boy's clothes, as well as a few bruises here and there.

"Kaito! Who bullied you! I'll go give them a lesson! Those idiots! They even tore the soft toy!" Perona followed him Kaori, her big black eyes staring at the torn soft toy held by the blonde hair boy by the chest.

"Perona…" Kaori turned to Perona, giving her a disproving look. She's not one that support violence.

"Hmph…" Perona pout, she understands what Kaori means. She too, also bends down to look at the young boy.

"Mummy…" The young boy pout, apparently he learned it from Perona. He diverts his big brown eyes to Perona, and show off a big grin. "Perona nee-chan!"

"Kaito! It's been long since we last met! You're still as cute as ever!" Perona smiled back at him, she put down her umbrella and stretches out her arms to hug Kaito. After a while, he then pull up the soft toy and show it to her, "I'm sorry I can't take care of Kumashi No. 2."

Kaori stood up and stand beside Zoro, both of them looking at the 2 "kids", Zoro took a closer look at the soft toy, and it does resemble Kumashi, just a little bit. Unlike Kumashi which have blue and white stripe around, it is made of pink and white stripe instead.

"Well, I guess I can't help it then, I'll fix it for you then, since you're so cute" Perona signed and took the soft toy and its part from Kaito's hands.

Kaori on the other hand, is looking at the swordsman standing beside her, trying to take in as much information as possible. "Did you send Kaito home? What happened?" Kaori looked at him, waiting for his reply.

"Uh… Just some fighting, anyway I stopped him and bring him back, so nothing much."

"Who say you stopped me! You've been standing one side and watch! Don't think I didn't see that!" Kaito shouted, still between Perona's arms.

"Huh… I wonder who is the one that bravely announce that he is a man, so I thought I shouldn't get into a man's fight, until I saw him almost getting beaten up," This kid, for some reason, is still getting on his nerves, he reminds him of Sanji, most likely because of the blonde hair and his cocky attitude.

"Beaten…up?" Kaori asked, looking at Zoro.

"Oi you stupid swordsman, did you let Kaito get beaten up?!" Perona gasped, she picked up her umbrella and stood up, staring at the swordsman.

"Huh?! What's with you two woman, didn't I just said something like "until I saw him _almost _getting beaten up?" Zoro felt irritated, he didn't even know why he bothered to explain anymore, "But he did get beaten up earlier."

"Huh?! You…" Perona tried to scold him, but was cut by Kaori.

"It's fine, they're always getting into fights anyway…" Kaori look disappointed, but this was not something that can be solve easily by just scolding. Kaori ushered Kaito into the room to bathe and wait for her in the room to take care of his bruises.

Kaito waved goodbye at Perona and went into the room, meanwhile, Kaori took the piece of paper with different cloth codes written on it from Perona and start getting to work. She walked to behind the counter, and took out rolls of cloth that is requested by Perona as well as a few bag of cotton stuffing and placed them on the table.

_Black, Pink, Light Purple, Blue and White._

"Hmm, that's about it for this time. Thanks Kaori!" Perona smiled and placed a few beri notes on the counter and turned to the Swordsman. "Oi, take this and put in the cart."

Zoro grumbled a bit under his breath but still do as told, he gathered all the rolls together and slowly walked outside the shop and placed them in the cart, using up almost the rest of the space, now he know why they need such a big cart.

"Kaori-chan… Tell me if you need anything, Moria-Sama might be gone but I can still help you in certain stuffs…" Perona murmured in a low voice so only Kaori can hear, keeping her head down as her eyes stole a glance at Kaori. She knows the bullying incident must be because of the father again. They have been look down by the people in the town because Kaito doesn't have a father.

"It's okay Perona, and other than worrying me, you should spend more time with your new family. I'm glad you're not left alone and found someone to depend on," Kaori flashed her signature sweet smile again, Perona then look down and reflect upon her words. Slowly she lift her heads up and smile at Kaori again, waving goodbyes and went out of the shop.

_Family huh… _Perona look at the swordsman that has already lifted up the cart's handle and ready to move. _Depend on_… can she really depend on this guy like how she depend on Moria-Sama?

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"Oi… Where are we going now?" Zoro followed behind Perona, wondering if she is walking aimlessly again.

"We still have some beri left, let's go get you some clothes and sake, the only clothes you have right now won't last you long with those hell training," Perona continued to stroll along the street with her umbrella opened, having Zoro to push the cart behind her makes it feels like she owns him as a slave, she can't help but start laughing her signature laugh in her mind.

After a few walk, they finally reach a shop that sells men's clothing. Zoro placed the cart outside the shop once again, and walked in together with Perona.

Zoro isn't some shopaholics, so he picked a few clothes and bottoms that are comfortable and they leave the shop. While they head to the next destination to use the remaining money to buy Sake, Perona comment on how little fashion sense he have and how he tend to choose all the not-cute-at-all clothes. Zoro ignored her, now as they are heading to their boat which is at anchored at the coast, they are walking together as there is more space on the street with lesser people now.

"You know the boy and the woman just now?" Zoro asked out of curiosity.

"Ya, we've been buying cloth from Kaori-chan since a few years ago, that kid is her son, Kaito," Perona eyed Zoro, then continued, "Anyway, thanks for helping Kaito just now."

"O… Nothing much anyway," Zoro was shocked at the fact that the Ghost Princess knows how to say 'Thank you'.

Their walk continued in silence even after they reach their boat, they unload everything up and started to head back to Kuraigana Island with the other eternal pose that Mihawk gave them.

"Oi, aren't we suppose to move towards there?" Zoro commented, looking at the eternal log pose on Perona's hand.

"Argh! Just be quiet you stupid swordsman! We're supposed to look at the direction where the arrows point!"

"But the arrow did point there…" Zoro pointed out, he was referring to the opposite side where the arrow "point" at.

"Argh! Like I say… Argh! Forget it, why did I even bother to explain to you! Ahhhh! Moria-Sama, when will you appear to rescue me out of here?!"

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**As usual, please do review! ^^ **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, Oda Sensei does**

**Anyway, Review please! :]**

**By the way, someone might notice, I split the chapters a bit so this is Chapter 5 instead of 4 :) **

**Thanks for reading, as well as those who follow, favorite, and review my story, it means a lot, thanks! :)**

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**Chapter 5 - Their First Time Talking About That**

"Oi, aren't you acting a little weird recently?" Zoro asked while Perona is cleaning the wounds on his arms.

"Huh…?" Perona looked up.

"Like I say… You've been weird recently…Ever since..."

A few days ago, Zoro thought to himself as images flash through his mind.

The only way Zoro and Perona interact is through arguing, everyone knows that, including the Baboons. But recently they stop arguing, not that they finally pick up the art of proper interacting, but it was that they hardly even talk.

Every morning after Breakfast, Zoro and Mihawk will proceed to the ruins and train with the Baboons. While Perona, will go to the library to read about Culinary or Medical books, sometimes she will find things to do. Example there's a time when she started to draw big arrows around the castle of different color. Different color represent different destination, like Yellow represent the Dining Room, Green to his own room, Pink to Perona's room and Red to the main entrance, while Purple to the study room where Mihawk is at. If she has nothing else to do, she will come to the ruins along with them to watch them train.

However recently, Perona didn't come, neither did she go to the library. Immediately after Breakfast, she will fly back to her room, and she didn't even talk when they're eating Breakfast, which is surprising enough for someone as talkative as the Ghost Princess.

During noon, Perona will prepare lunches in Bento Box, and she will give one of them to Mihawk, if he is not in the ruins. Then she will bring the other 2 to the ruins where Zoro is training, and sit down to eat with him. They will argue in the middle of the ruins, mostly about how sweet the food is, even though it is slowly improving day by day, thanks to the culinary books in the library. But Zoro will never admit how much she is improving, just like how he will never admit how delicious Sanji's food is. Sometimes Perona will grab along some notes filled with new recipes that she found in the library, and show it happily to Zoro, flying in a "8" shape, saying how she will one day try to make them when she get the ingredients on her hands.

However, again, she didn't come. Well, she did, but she just left the Bento box there, and will fly back to the castle without leaving a single word.

In the evening, Perona will normally come and tell him that Dinner is ready. She will then walk with him back to the Castle together. This will usually take a while as Zoro is often in the middle of fighting with Baboons, and will take a while to end the fight completely. When he is finally done, Perona will usually scold him his combination of nickname, 'Pervert, stupid, half-dead, swordsman', and shouting how slow he is taking and the food will get cold and so on.

But again, recently, no. She did come and tell him it's Dinner time, and Zoro, as usual, did take a while before finishing off the Baboons. But Perona just sat there staring into the air, and even after Zoro is ready, she will just keep quiet and slowly fly beside Zoro to go back to the Castle, so to make sure that he don't wander off suddenly.

During dinner, they will again, have a heated argument, especially about who is the one to wash the dishes later, which usually is Zoro since she is the one cooking, and there's no way in hell Mihawk is going to do the chores.

But recently, they have no heated argument, they hardly even talk, and Perona will be the first to eat finish and will end off with "Zoro, you wash the dishes, I'll go to your room later."

Finally at night, after bathing, Perona will come into the room to tend to his old and new wounds and scars. Sometimes if things get serious, Perona will stay in his room beside the bed, mending the broken soft toy, Kumashi No. 2, as named by Kaito. Other time, she will head back to her room quietly, not saying anything.

It's been almost a few days now, close to a week. It's not like Zoro dislike the quietness, in fact, he must say, he enjoy it quite a bit. However, the quietness is too sudden, and unlike of Perona which make him worried. Well, not that he is worried, but the relationship between Zoro and Perona is like friends, family, and nakama, it is normal for him to be worried about her.

He tried to analyze the situation before, the first few days of the situation. Maybe it's because of girl's problem? Not like he never faces it before, he learned about such stuffs the hard way, thanks to Nami. Her's is the worst one ever, she will go angry for nothing, and anyone standing in her way will get a good scolding from her. Be it Luffy and Usopp playing catching in the ship, which disrupts her drawing her map, or be it himself sleeping, blocking her way, or Sanji being too irritating, well serves him right anyway.

It's good that Perona didn't act like Nami, but it's getting uncomfortable when she gets so quiet, or maybe moody is the word to use in this case. But anyway, Perona's sudden quietness is getting longer, and it doesn't look like it's going to get better anytime. Sometimes he will hear her murmuring to herself, scratching her head like she is under certain stress or have some big problems.

As her friend, he feel like there is a need for him to do something, to help her or whatever, since she have helped her in many things like preparing food and tending his wounds.

"Am I…?" Perona asked, lowering her head to hide her blush. _Shit… How did he know?_

"Yes, you stopped talking, a lot, and you zone out a lot too, like… thinking or worrying about something," Zoro continued while staring at her, he notice her blush, and start to think about what possible thing might happen to make her stop talking so much, and at the same time blush when being asked at.

"Is it… It'll be fine soon I guess…"

_That's it. I knew it! _What Perona said enlighten Zoro as he recalled something important.

Here, is a castle. An old castle, with only a male, Mihawk, staying for the past few years.

"Hmm…If you meet any trouble… you know I can try to help you…"Zoro blushed.

"Trouble… Ya, but it's going to be alright, just a little bit more…" Perona tightened the bandages around his arms and pack the medical things back into the box, she was looking down so she didn't get to see the tint of red across Zoro's face.

"I know how troublesome it is, so… I mean, if you need time to go to the town to buy it, you can just go, if you want, I don't mind accompanying you though…"

"Huh? It?" Perona hold up the box and look at Zoro blankly. _What does he mean by 'it'…?_

"Yes, it."

"Huh?"

"Urgh, I know such stuffs. I mean that thing. You need it right?!" Zoro finished the sentence in a loud and quick way, despite knowing such stuffs, it's still embarrass for him as a guy to ask such questions.

"Huh?! Wait, thing? What do you mean by that thing?!" Perona stare at Zoro, starting to get what he mean. Wait, where did this conversation even come from?

"I know your that thing is coming, so you need it right? We can just go to town tomorrow morning and buy it so stop worrying over such stuffs!"

"Huh?! Who the hell ever says I need that?!" Perona shrieked.

"I mean… You're having PMS right? That's why you've been so moody, and you're worrying over what to do since there's no that thing in the castle right?" Zoro explained, embarrassed, but deep down he is a little proud that he manage to solve the mystery behind the Ghost Princess's unusualness.

"…" Perona took a deep breath.

"I got it. We'll go to do the bi-weekly shopping earlier for this week okay? We'll go tomorrow and get your-" Zoro scratch his green head using his hand again, trying to solve Perona's "problem", but was unfortunately, cut by a mischievous looking ghost that spawn beside Perona.

"Negative Hollow," Releasing her breath while saying, at the same time calming herself down.

"I wish I could be a worm instead…" Zoro get on the floor on all four as the ghost went through him. Meanwhile, Perona ran out of the room, and enter again after a few moments with a piece of paper on her hand. By then, Zoro is already up, and fuming.

"Oi! Stop using that on me!" Zoro stare at the Ghost Princess that is running towards him, and a piece of paper was shoved to his face.

On the paper was drawn a long black strapless dress with an upright cross design at the front. It was colored with black and lavender color. Beside the dress, there are also measurements and lines around it as well as some minor notes.

"I'm not having PMS! I'm just busy thinking about the design of this new dress and spending my time making it, and it's actually half-done already for your information. Argh… What kind of people are you to think until that far?!" Perona take back her stretched hand and fold the paper into 2, her arms crossed in front of her, questioning the green hair swordsman.

"I…" Zoro felt his cheek hot from embarrassment as he rummage through his mind for something to say to hide the embarrassment.

"Huh! So you decided to wear a long dress so you don't reveal anything when you fly?" _SHIT! WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SAID?!_

"Huh?! I knew it! I knew you're a pervert! You…! "Perona angrily stomped out of the room, smacking the door close behind her as she lean against the big door.

Perona looked down, her bangs hiding her eyes as she bite her bottom lip.

"Shit…he knows…" Perona whisper to herself as the blush from a while ago found their place back to her cheeks. Either way, the main reason she even decided to get herself a new dress was because of the comment by that stupid green hair pervert half-dead swordsman. But there's no way in hell she's going to admit it.

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**Please help by reviewing on my chapters :) **

**Sorry if this chapter looks weird anyway, and if there's any guy reader, I hope you get what that thing is, I'm not sure if I can type it out since I rated this as T, or actually I cross the line already.**

**If so please leave a comment, and I'll change it to M, thanks a lot :) **

**And also, feel free to give any comments, especially if there is any OOC-ness! x.x**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi! Sorry for the little mess I caused by splitting the chapters and editing some stuffs in front. **

**To those who thought I actually uploaded a new chapter, but then got disappointed, I decided to upload Chapter 6 one day in advance X.X**

**Anyway, here goes Chapter 6! :]**

**Disclaimer : One Piece belongs to Oda Sensei! :) **

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**Chapter 6– Their First Serious Talk**

Away from the gloomy Island called Kuraigana, the 2 youngsters got on their small boat as they travel towards another island that is the polar opposite of Kuraigana, the Kawarime Island.

Perona have gotten a change for herself, wearing her latest dress proudly, which show off another side of her. Unlike the usual cute style that comes from the mini skirt and tight top she have previously, her current strapless dress show off her curves as it curve out towards the bottom, accompanied by lavender ruchings. Her hair is still tied into two pony tail by the side, and wearing her favorite crown, red boots, her signature umbrella, and her hand carrying Kumashi No. 2. With the strapless dress, it also clearly shows the pink bat tattoo on her left arm.

"Having a change of clothes does make me feel a lot better," Perona commented, swirling around on the boat. It was a boat of a size smaller than Going Merry, but bigger than average fishing boat.

"If you fall into the sea, I'm not going to save you," Zoro warned, lying at the side of the boat. But he must admit, she looked better in that dress than what she wore previously. Zoro on the other hand, is wearing what he bought on the Island previously, a style that is similar to what he usually wears, a black long pant that is tucked into his boots, an unbuttoned dark blue shirt, his three swords bundled up with his green haramaki and his signature black bandanna tied on his left arm.

"As a slave, you're supposed to save me even before I drop into the sea, you get it?" Perona turned to him, demanding as she put her fist on her waist.

"Huh? Who says I am your slave in the first place!"

"Be grateful, I usually only accept cute people to work for me!"

"You're saying I'm cute…?" He twitched his eyebrow, the last thing he want to hear about himself is him being cute.

"Huh?! How can you be cute? I'm making an exception since you're the only person with me right now, and there's no way that stupid Shichibukai will play with me isn't it! I should have decorated you into Kumashi before bring you out…" Perona sighed as she recalled the cuteness of Kumashi.

"You already did that!" He remembers clearly how Perona wrapped him up as a giant size Kumashi when he just woke up from his unconsciousness initially. "And, if you never try, you'll never know, you should try playing with Mihawk," Heh, he want to see how she die under the blades of the world greatest swordsman.

"Hmph! That shichibukai won't play with me, not when even Moria-Sama refuses to play with me."

"Moria-sama again, isn't he your boss? Just how close can you get to your boss?" Zoro yawned, still in the same position.

"Moria-sama is a very respectable person! Well, at least for me he is… I don't have a lot of memory about me when I'm young, but I know Moria-sama appeared when I needed him the most. He invited me to join him, saying that I could have fun in his castle as long as I help him to become the Pirate King. I don't really care much, but he said that he will treat me like a Princess, I can play with all the soft toys, and I can make many friends there… So I joined him…" Perona looked a far into the sea, recalling the fact that Moria-Sama is no longer around, worst, he might not even be alive now.

_Just for that reason…? As expected from the Ghost Princess._ Zoro thought to himself as he sighed.

"Moria-Sama didn't trick me, he protected me from many things, and I gained the title of the Ghost Princess, I have cute servants to work for me, as well as Kumashi with me. I also make a lot of friends, like Absalom, Lola, Cindry-chan, Hogback, Kaori, and even Kaito…" Perona looked back at Zoro, she know he was listening to her, and she was curious too. "What about you?"

"Me?"

"Your story, how did you join the Straw Hat Pirates?" Perona sat down opposite Zoro, her hand twirling around the umbrella's handle.

"He saved my life, and I join him, that's all."

"Huh?! That's all? At least come up with something cuter!" Perona pouted, bore by his story.

"It's not supposed to be cute," Zoro closed his eyes, talking to this Princess here is so tiring. Why must everything be related to cuteness?

"I respect him, his character, his ambition, his will, I respect him for who he is. It doesn't really matter if I still owe him anything for saving my life, but now I am willing to do anything to make him the Pirate King, even if it is at the cost of my life."

"Even if it is at the expense of your ambition to become the world greatest swordsman?"

"There is no honor in becoming the greatest swordsman if I can't even protect my Captain and my crewmates."

There was a moment of silence, Zoro is waiting for Perona to continue to say anything, but she isn't going to say anything so soon. She kept quiet as she ponders to herself.

"Will I ever… respect someone so much, so much that I can give up everything for him…"Perona looked down, this man in front of her is truly respectable, not even she can respect Moria-Sama to such an extent.

* * *

"Later I'll go in to ask Kaori-chan about something, you just stay outside, I'll be back soon, okay?" The 2 youngster have finished their bi-weekly shopping on necessaries as well as the wine list provided by Mihawk. It's still noon and Perona decided to go and find Kaito first to give him Kumashi No.2 which she have repair, as well as asking Kaori some questions.

"Mmm…" Zoro pushed the cart along Perona, letting a sound escape his seemingly close mouth to reply her lazily. If not for the large amount of wine they need to buy for Mihawk, he really want to throw all this shopping errands to Perona so that he could spend the time to train.

"You make sure you stand outside, do not, I repeat, do not leave a single step, you understand?!" Perona make sure Zoro get what she mean, she don't want to use her ghost network to make sure he don't wander around as it might scare people. She don't understand, her ghosts are so cute, why would people scream at the mere sight of them?

"I know! Stop treating me like a kid, does it even matter it a move a step?"

"YES! IT MATTERS A LOT!" Perona hollered, doesn't this guy have any self-consciousness?!

As they approached closer to Kaori's shop, they saw a crowd of people crowding outside Kaori's shop, Perona quickened her steps to see what happen with Zoro following beside her. Perona elbowed her way to the middle of the crowd to see what is happening while Zoro placed the cart aside, joining Perona.

"Ah!" Perona screamed as she saw a figure flying towards her, she closed her eyes as she held out her closed umbrella in front of her to block the figure from crashing into her. Then she heard a loud thump on the floor and she opened her eyes slowly, the figure already dropped onto the floor, it was a man, clutching his stomach, cringing in pain.

She opened her eyes to look, and saw Zoro standing beside her. He used the hilt of his katana to push the man away when he came flying towards her. Perona regain her thinking as she asked herself by would a man come flying out of Kaori's shop.

_Wait, Kaori's shop?_

Perona stepped over the man on the ground and run into Kaori's shop, Kaori is struggling with a group of man surrounding her, she is fighting off them using a reattach-able wand (Like Nami's Clima Tact just that it's brown in color and does not have special dial infused in it).

"Mini Hollows!" Perona held out her right hand, mini hollows forming on her palm, it was smaller than what was used on Thriller Bark. The mini follows fly towards the group of scruffy man in front of her, smiling naughtily. Her left hand clutching her umbrella and Kumashi No. 2.

"What's that!" The man cringed back at the sight of the ghost-liked creature flying towards them but felt no pain. Nevertheless, their intuition tell them that that creature is not something friendly, they slapped their hand around trying to get rid of the ghost-liked creature, but realize they can't seems to touch it.

"Ghost Rap. *Snap" Perona snapped her fingers, and at the snap of it, the ghost-liked creature explode, blasting off the group of man that are around Kaori, yet not powerful enough to damage Kaori's shop.

As the man dropped to the ground, semi-dead, Kaori run out from the middle of them towards Perona. Perona take a look at Kaori to make sure she wasn't hurt.

"Sorry for the trouble, and thank you for helping," Kaori smiled as she looked out of the shop, random people are crowding around and butting their head in to see what the commotion is about.

"Oi, what happened?" Zoro slowly walked in, not surprised by the fact that the Ghost Princess could deal with those scum herself.

"Pirates! They're Pirates!" Someone from the crowd shouted.

"Huh? Who? Me?"

"Not you! Them!" Perona screamed at Zoro, how can he be so slow?!

"WAIT! ISN'T THAT RORONOA ZORO?!" It was followed by more screams from the crowd as they start to move back in fear, but refuse to move since the devil haven't start unsheathing his sword yet.

"Huh? What?" Zoro turned towards the crowd, giving off a dark aura.

"STOP CONFUSING THINGS! YOU IDIOT!" Perona screamed as she hit his head using her palm straight like in a karate-liked strike.

Perona tried to calm down to try and dig information from Kaori while she heard whimpering and murmurings from the background.

"It's the Pirates, the Pirates are coming!"

* * *

**Hope you enjoy it thus far and Please Review! :( **

**Review Review Review Review~! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi! Here comes chapter 7, but before that I would like to thank those who reviewed, ****_Constanza Rose, Untied fate_****, as well as the ****_Guest_**** :)**

**Sorry if the build is too slow! X.X Sometimes I wonder if I'm writing a one-shot or what :X**

**Haha, anyway, here comes a little bit of action, and remember to review and comment! ^^ **

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece**

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Their First Time Fighting Together**

"It's the Pirates, the Pirates are coming!" Murmurings could be heard from the crowds, discussing about Pirates this and Pirates that.

"What about Pirates?" _What's the big deal about it anyway, it's the Pirate's era anyway. _Perona thought to herself as she look at the crowd outside the shop, some of the woman already broke into tears, and it reminded her something important.

This is Kawarime Island, an island that once flew the flag of Gecko Moria, yes, _flew._

Without the protection of Gecko Moria, more pirates will come and dock on this island to restock any supply needed, on top of that, since this is previously a territory of Gecko Moria, the pirates here will be more aggressive towards people living here, and worst, trying to claim it to show off that they've taken a property of what was previously belonged to a Shichibukai.

"With Thriller Bark disappeared, more pirates will be more daring to sail across the sea, it's no surprise that there are more pirates appearing, especially after the Whitebeard's speech also," Zoro explained his point of view, while Perona nodded, agreeing to him, for once.

"Such weaklings. You did well coming so far into the Grandline without dying," Perona walked towards one of the man as she used her leg to turn him over, at the same time checking if he is still breathing.

"Ack!" Perona screamed when the man moved his head on her leg to pull her, "Damn you! How dare you!" Perona pulled her leg out as she use another Mini Hollow against him.

"You… My ….My Captain will come soon!" The man growled in pain, while staring at Kaori who have been standing aside.

"Oi! Who give you permission to stare at cute Kaori-chan?! Now that I remember, why are your attacking her?!" Perona bent down to the floor, her intimidating, or so she thought, big round eyes staring at the man.

"Heh, I'm under no obligation to speak to some little kids like… I mean…" The man sneered bravely back at Perona but unknowingly met the eyes of the devil.

"What?! Continue!" She smirks, proud at herself for being so intimidating, but she didn't know the man was just scared of the green hair devil behind her. Zoro decided that Perona's 'intimidating stare' won't work, and decided to give her a help to end everything faster.

"I… My Captain set his eyes on her, and decided to take her out to sea as we are setting sail later in the evening, my… my captain will come soon when we never go back to the ship by evening!" The man uttered in fear as he points at Kaori, but his eyes occasionally looking at the devil.

"Ara! That's so cute of him to set his bloody eyes on Kaori-chan…" Perona say sarcastically, she then turned to the crowds, who are still, watching the situation. "Are there many pirates on the island now?" She asked the crowds.

Zoro looked at Perona, and smirk as he understood what's coming next.

"Yes… I saw a few Pirate Ship docking at the end of the Island just now…"

"Nice timing. Zoro!" Perona called out, as if he was really her servant.

"I'm not doing it because you say so, I'm doing it because grocery shopping is too boring," Zoro smirk, his hand on his katana.

"Heh, that's so cute of you," she smirked, enjoying the feeling when Zoro understand what she means without even saying out. Perona placed Kumashi No.2 on the counter as she ran out with Zoro onto the street.

"Now, let the training begin!"

* * *

_All these small fry, it's even weaker than the Baboons! _Zoro thought to himself as he uses his two-sword style to settle most of the weaker pirates. This might act like a training session for Zoro like what Perona say, but the difficulty level is far too easy. Now, he will just have to go and find the Captain, he will expect much more from the Captain.

Kaori's shop is located at the western side of the town, and the end of the island is at the east side, which is where most ships and docked at. Zoro run across the town while tackling some pirates on the way. Apparently some pirates have heard of the commotion around and decided to check on their mates, and found Zoro on the way there.

"You are…" The pirates muttered, _why is the notorious straw hat's first mate here?!_

"Ah… You're with those pirates in Kaori's shop just now?" The pirates in front of them are wearing ruffled and messy clothes with a Jolly Roger of red fluffy hair on top of the skull. Zoro have no memory of such Jolly Roger.

"What did you do to our…"

"Ah good, keep it coming, even there are more baboons than you guys…" Zoro make a comment to himself as he heard more heavy footsteps coming his way, ignoring the lost look on the other people.

"Oi Zoro! Stop running so fast! You'll get lost!" Perona came running through the now lesser people street. Most of the people have decided to hide from the commotion of pirates.

"Huh?! Who the hell will get lost! I just have to move straight! How can someone get lost from moving straight?" Zoro mumbled without paying much attention as he took out his Wado Ichimonji and placed them in his mouth. It's time for some three-sword style.

_YOU! _Perona scream in her mind, panting as she continues to run towards Zoro.

The pirates rushed towards Zoro, not showing a sign of fear on their face, while Zoro is still adjusting his stance for santouryu.

"Oi!" Perona yelped out a sign of warning as she panted from the running so far, inwardly curse upon the limitations of her devil fruit.

"Tatsu Maki!" Zoro spins with his swords holding out, creating a tornado around him which fend from the incoming attack of the pirates, and at the same time sending them flying off away. The tornado blasted them off, creating an opening for them to run on, and Zoro head straight ahead.

Perona started yelling behind him asking to wait, but to no avail, she continue to run after Zoro, not really obstruct by the dress or her boots, since she was a slow runner in the first place, normally she'll fly if she's in a battle, and leave her body somewhere, but it won't happen in such chaotic place.

* * *

As the both of them reached the coast where most pirates are, they saw that a few pirates have already gotten in an aggressive stance waiting for them.

"Roronoa Zoro. Behold! I, Harriet, the Captain of the Red Pirates will defeat you! And my bounty will rise!" A big sized man with red hair roared as he point his cutlass at Zoro, he is undeniably the captain of the pirates crew they have defeated a while ago because of the Jolly Roger.

"Oi stupid swordsman, why are you so popular, do you know we're supposed to keep a low profile?" Perona asked, annoyed, as she summon Negative Hollow to the surrounding pirates around them.

"Heh, I just have to shut his mouth isn't it," Zoro smirked, again, sheathing all 3 of his katana, but his left hand remains on Wado Ichimonji.

As Zoro get into his attacking stance, Perona also immediately sprang into action, her right hand creating Mini Hollow to attack the endless pirates around instead of Negative Hollows.

"Ittoryu Iai, Shishi Sonson," with his left hand gripping on Wado Ichimonji, Zoro unsheathed and sheathed his sword with a speed that cannot be seen by unskilled people. A premonition that something bad will happen creep on to the Captain as he blocked the oncoming attack with his cutlass but was broke by the attack nevertheless. He suffered a strike on his chest as he slowly knee on to the ground, his sudden weakness led to him not being able to carry his weight.

Perona looked into his direction when the brave Captain who challenged him a while ago fell onto the ground. He was defeated within one attack, and Zoro isn't even using his Santouryu. Despite the fact that Zoro is supposed to be using his signature Three-Sword Style, Mihawk pointed out that there is a need to be proficient in One-Sword Style too.

It also makes sense for Mihawk to guide him in One-Sword techniques since he himself is a user of One-Sword style. On top of that, in the previous fights that he have, Zoro have been in certain circumstances that he is not able to use the Three Sword Style, example the time when the Black Cat Pirates attacked Usopp's village, the Nyaban Brothers succeeded in stealing 2 of his swords which force him to fight them with one sword.

Zoro have told her all that when she asked him why did he agree to focus a bit more on One Sword Style, and he also admit he was not very proficient in One Sword Style.

_Looks like everything did pay off._ Perona thought to herself as a smile crept onto her face unknowingly.

"Oi!" A shout from Zoro strike Perona back into reality, she blinked her eyes as she realized she have been focusing too much at Zoro's progression that she forget she was in a battle herself. She raised her head as another weird looking person jumped onto her with dagger in his hand. It was too near; she can't use her attack at this range, she tried to back away, but her small steps won't make a small difference.

"Tsk. Don't go thinking about other stuff in the middle of a battle, even if it's against a small fry." A wave of relief rushed through Perona as her back hit something, she know it was Zoro. Zoro blocked the attack with Wado Ichimonji on his left hand while his right hand placed behind Perona to prevent her from backing away too much and end up falling down.

"I am the Captain of the Bear Pirate! I am here to-" The attacker make a somersault back to make a grand announcement of himself with his crew members behind him but was rudely cut off.

"Hmph. Who says I'm thinking about other stuff! You don't have to go acting hero in front of me, you stupid half-dead pervert swordsman!" Perona regained her composure as she argued back.

"Heh, so I looked like a hero just now?" Zoro played with her words.

"Ha! My name is –"

"No! How can a pervert be a hero? " Perona bickered back, staring at him.

"I'm not a pervert!" Zoro shouted back, making his statement clear, staring back at her.

"Ha! I might not look like it but I have a bounty!" The attacker or the Captain of the Kitties Pirate continued to flaunt despite being ignored by the both of them.

"Shut up!" The both of them turned to look at him, now that they see, he does resemble a Bear. That wasn't a compliment though. In fact, he was too lanky to be a bear, but he have a tan skin color and round face that is not proportionate to his skinny and lanky body.

Their meaningless bickering was stopped abruptly by the stupid Captain of the Bear Pirates, which wasn't exactly favorable to them, both Zoro and Perona have come to enjoy their meaningless arguments, since it's the only way they can express themselves and communicate to each other.

Both of them look hatefully at the lanky man, Zoro tightening his grip on Wado Ichimonji, while a hollow was formed slowly on her hand, increasing in size every second.

"I can settle him including his crew without your help, stupid swordsman."

"Heh, if you can, you won't need a hero to save you just now."

"I thought you only have a bad sense of direction, apparently your sense of hearing is impaired too. A pervert can't be hero!"

"Say the one who stared at me until she almost got killed," Zoro smirked, releasing the force as he sent a strong wave towards the Captain and his crew.

"Huh?!" Perona's tone increase, as well as the size of the single Hollow on her hand as she pump more energy in, she released it towards the group of pirates in front of her with a snap of a finger and a single big explosion was created.

"Oi! Who says I'm staring at you!"

"Heh, I can see that much, I even notice you smiling."

"Huh?! Why the hell will I smile when I'm looking at some green hair pervert blockhead slashing people?!"

And so they ended their first fight together peacefully, walking back through the town, bickering as usual on the way.

On the background, a bounty poster flew by, the face of the captain of the Bear Pirates appeared.

43,000,000 Beri

* * *

**A/N: How did he and his crew manage to get so far anyway?**

**By the way in case you are curious, the attack Perona is using is Special Hollow, it's like mini hollow but as it increase in sizes, the explosion will be much more bigger.**

**Hope you enjoy it, and remember to review! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece**

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Their First Serious Argument**

Night has finally taken over as if black pieces of velvet have been laid over the sky. Darkness engulfs the entire Kuraigana Island as the moon hide behind the veils of gossamer mist.

The ghost Princess went back into comfort of her own room after dinner, it was a long day for her. It's been a while since she gets into a fight, since she doesn't train with the Baboons in the ruins.

She stepped into the bathroom and turned on the tap for hot water to flow out. While waiting, she kept her signature umbrella and undress herself. Steam filled the bathroom slowly as she heaved out a long sigh to relief herself of the tension. She slips herself into the bathtub and submerged partially into the hot water. Her big round eyes stayed above the water, enjoying the sight of the steam that formed around her as her mind went back to what happened earlier.

Flashback

"So do you know the price of the cloth you showed me that day?" Perona asked, looking around to for the sample book.

Both Perona and Zoro have finished their fight and decided to go back to Kaori's shop. Perona have something to ask Kaori and they need to pick up their cart that they have left outside Kaori's shop previously.

"Ah, the cloth?" Kaori took a sample book from the back of her counter and passed it to Perona, "It cost about 160,000 Beri per roll."

"Huh?!" Perona jolted her head up to stare at Kaori with her big round eyes, unable to believe what she just heard. Zoro, who overheard the commotion, also turned around and look at the 2 woman.

"It was a rare and good piece of fabric that is hard to come by, soft, comfortable, durable and is not hot and stuffy, it's not too light that it will be too cold either," Kaori smiled again, looking at Perona's exaggerated expression, well, maybe it isn't too exaggerating after all. Kaori look towards Zoro, the man who will receive the cloth eventually, as she guess, and saw the clueless him lifting up a brow.

"We're talking about this good piece of cloth, but it cost about 160,000 Beri per roll," Kaori smiled sweetly again, but those who know her will realize otherwise, there's something hidden under her smile, like a more mischievous smile.

"Huh?! What kind of stupid cloth is –" Zoro asked rudely, he just don't understand woman, but he was cut off by Perona. "Shut up! Stupid Swordsman won't know anything!" Perona then turned to Kaori and asked if that is the best price she could give.

"Unfortunately, that's the best price I can give you."

Perona nodded, she understands that the cloth is indeed worth of the amount, and Kaori wouldn't con her. It might be expensive but she'll get to earn the money sooner or later anyway.

"Kaori-chan, thanks for showing me such a good piece of cloth, I'll get to you when I get the money again," Perona closed the sample book and stride out of the shop, her mind calculating how many rolls of cloth she need and how much money is enough.

End of Flashback

_Sigh…_ She regret now, she regret so much now.

If only she took all the pirates to the Marines just now, with the bounties she gather, she could easily get the money and bought the cloth!

She thought of asking Mihawk for money, but she was the one lodging here for free, and Mihawk is already good enough to give them small pocket money to buy something they want along with the list of wines and necessities. And it's not like she is working under Mihawk, even though she partially is. If only it is Moria-Sama, she would have already pestered him for it.

Perona sank back into the bathtub, and suddenly sit right up when the thought of the green hair man flashed into her mind.

_Yes! Zoro! There's no time to bathe slowly, I still need to tend to his wounds!_

She was about to get out of her bathtub until she realized that Zoro didn't get any noticeable wounds today, so it's fine not to tend to his wounds today. With that, she closed her eyes and slowly lies back in her bathtub.

* * *

Zoro had finished bathing and is sitting on his bed, polishing his katana with the cotton ball again. They spend a lot of time on the Island today, especially because of the cleaning up of all the useless pirates, so he didn't get to train today except for a few exercises that he do as a daily routine.

_Looks like Perona won't come tonight._ Zoro thought to himself as he tapped the cotton ball on his katana. His mind went back to what Kaori said to him before he left the shop after Perona.

Flashback

"Kaori-chan, thanks for showing me such a good piece of cloth, I'll get to you when I get the money again," Perona closed the sample book and walked out of the shop, leaving Zoro following behind her.

"Wait, Zoro-san," Kaori slowly walked towards him, and only start to speak after Perona left the front of the shop completely. "It's might be a bit weird for me to say such things, but I'm really glad that you are here for Perona when she lost Moria."

"Huh?" Zoro turned back to look at her, her serious words reflect upon her face.

"I might be young, but Perona treat me like her Mother, but I can't be there for her like always. So I hope you can help me to take care of her, she didn't say anything but I'm sure she is sad as Moria is all she depends on. Moria is not just a Captain to her; he is like her savior, her father. I just hope you can care about her more often."

"Ah, got it," Zoro looked at the serious Kaori coolly, and then turned around to walk out of the shop. He have never been in such situation before, it's not like he is dating Perona, so he is not sure what to reply, and just give a short answer. Despite that, he agreed on it.

End of Flashback

_Care?_ Zoro placed his Katana on the bed along with the cleaning materials, he then stand up to think for a second.

_Speaking of which… I wonder if she got hurt during the fight…_

Zoro left his room, walking through the hall following a Pink Arrow that directs to Perona's room. Initially Perona doesn't want to paint the Arrows to her room because there is no need for Zoro to come into her room anyway, but she decided to because she think Pink Arrows are cute.

With the Pink Arrows leading the way, Zoro easily found his way to Perona's room, it was closed shut, so he then knocked on the door, waiting for permission to go in.

* * *

Perona finally finished bathing, she get dressed into her pajamas, the thin black gown with a spaghetti strap and the black slippers. She walked towards the make-up table in the room and started combing her curly hair, looking towards the mirror.

*Knock* A knocking sound could be heard and Perona immediately stopped her action. She looked up at the door and the knocking sound stopped, then she resume to combing her hair.

_It's just my imagination I guess, I already tell them never to come into my room especially at night…_

*Knock Knock* A louder knocking sound could be heard, it isn't imagination this time round. Perona put the comb on the table and walked towards the door.

_Either its ghost, which is good, or it's that stupid swordsman, which is bad._

The knocking sound continues rudely until Perona stand behind it, her hands on the handle.

Behind the doors, Zoro is knocking at the door, getting more and more impatient. _Don't tell me she died inside because of some unknown wounds…_

The thoughts of it are getting to him and it's taking too long for her to open the door. Zoro then swing the door open and saw Perona directly in front of him, falling backwards.

* * *

The door flung towards her direction suddenly and she make herself fall back to avoid a direct hit from the door, the door was opened and she saw the green hair man. Zoro immediately held out his hand to grab her, while she reaches out her hand to grab him too.

For a second it looked romantic, until Perona stand up furiously and slapped his hand away.

"Oi! What do you think you are doing here?!" Perona reprimanded, obviously unhappy about the fact that Zoro tried to come into her room.

"Huh, at least say a 'thanks'! I'm here to-" Zoro snapped at her for slapping his hand away, he was trying to prevent her from falling.

"Why should I say thanks when the reason I almost fall is because you swing the god damn door open?!" Perona take a look at him, it doesn't seem like he's injured, then why is he here? "And also! Didn't I say before not to come into my room?! Especially at night!" They started to argue again in front of Perona's room.

"I'm here to check if you're hurt from the-" Zoro explained but was cut off again by Perona.

"Ha, I'm the Ghost Princess, how can I get hurt from those small fry! I knew it, you're just using this as an excuse right? Mr stupid green hair half dead pervert swordsman!" She interrupted gravely.

"Excuse?! Why do I need an excuse?! For what-"

"How would I know what you're thinking? Coming into my room in the middle of the night? That's just suspicious!" Perona argued as she pushed him away from the door so that she can close the door.

"Huh?! What? I-" The door slammed right into his face the second he was pushed out of the room, leaving him fuming in anger.

Perona slammed the door as she stormed back on to her bed. She sat down on the bed hugging her Kumashi which is just beside her pillow, seething with anger.

"Hmph! Stupid pervert swordsman! I already warned him not to come ever into my room!" She grumbled to herself, looking at the closed coffin that is standing at the far end of the room.

* * *

"That stupid woman! Just when I care for her, that ungrateful woman!"Zoro grumbled to himself under his breath as he stormed back to his room by following the Green arrow that are placed almost over the entire castle, except for the last floor which is where Mihawk's room is.

_Why did I even want to ask her if she got hurt anyway? Isn't she invincible, swords or bullets can't reach her. Yes, why did I even save her just now anyway?_

Zoro reached his room; he sat on his bed cross-legged, still unhappy about Perona's attitude, it was his first time showing care to her also, can't she just take it and reply him nicely?

_It's not like she has treasure hidden in her room, why must she be so agitated? And on top of that, it doesn't really matter if he goes into her room or not, since she always come into his room and treat his wounds at night and they're always alone. But that's not the main point here… _

_I'll never care about her again! _Zoro thought as he lay on the bed, trying to chase away the distractions away from his mind.

_I'll never talk to him again! _Perona, on the other hand, was still fuming with anger, but how long can they last without any interactions? There are only 3 of them in the castle anyway. Perona whine like a child as she burrowed herself under the blanket.

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**Remember to Review! Thanks!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 – Their First Time Apologizing To Each Other**

* * *

Sweet scents of Cocoa fill the Dining room as Perona sits on the chair. She crossed her legs with one of them swinging with a rhythm as she hums it. Her eyes browse through a thick book of Recipes as her hands flipped through the pages quickly, stopping only once a while when she saw pictures that looks easy to cook and delicious enough. Occasionally, she will sip small sips of warm cocoa from her pink mug with Bats design.

She was looking through the recipe book to find more ideas to cook. From the period of stay they've had, she knows that Mihawk prefer western food, and for the green hair idiot… Well, you can basically don't give a damn about that stupid swordsman.

It's been almost five days since the serious argument they had that night. They stopped talking, ignoring each other presence, it was different from the time when she was busy thinking about her dress design. This time it was more serious, even if they get to talk, it always end with unhappiness. Perona doesn't understand why he was so angry, as far as she remember, the argument they had that night was like the usual bickering, and it clearly wasn't her fault, she had tell him many times not to come into her room, then why is he acting so angry like everything was her fault?

As the Ghost Princess, she is not going to apologize or whatever, but she still picks him up from the ruins for dinner but they wouldn't talk like usual on the way. They never even look at each other in the eyes.

Perona thought of trying to act like nothing happen, but every time she turned to look at the stupid swordsman, the swordsman will ignore her presence which angered her even more.

_What's with that stupid attitude! It's clearly his fault…_

Perona continued to flip the book on her hand, not satisfied by the pictures of food she saw on the book. Pouting, she closed the book and lie back against the chair. As she lay back, she could hear footstep coming towards the Dining Room, but who can it be if both of them are dueling in the ruins now?

Perona moved herself up from her seat, and as the footsteps come nearer, she realizes it was just Mihawk. "Mihawk?" She asked herself in a low voice, _then where is Zoro?_

Mihawk and Zoro are supposed to have their weekly duel today, and usually they will come back together. Reason being that Zoro will most likely not be fit for any training afterwards.

"Where is Zoro?" Perona asked, in a louder voice this time.

"He's in the ruins," Mihawk turned his steps, walking towards the stairs.

"Ah, so he improved till the point he can still train after the duel?" Perona asked almost in a mocking tone.

"He's injured."

"Huh?" She jolted up from her chair, flying towards Mihawk, but Mihawk didn't reply her.

"Oi Mihawk! He's injured until the point that he can't even walk back with you, so you just leave him there?! What if those stupid Baboons try to make use of this chance to kill him?!" Perona waited for Mihawk to reply but Mihawk just continue to go up the flight of stairs. Patient ran out of her and she started to blabber about her wild imagination that was playing in her mind the few seconds that was silence.

"He –" Mihawk tried to say something but was cut by Perona, as usual.

"Oi! What if he just died there eaten by Baboons?!"

"He –"

"Ahhhhhh! Then who is going to take care of his corpse?! You – Oi Mihawk!" Perona continue blabbering while Mihawk decided to just ignore her and leave her alone, he will get cut off again anyway.

Perona stand at the bottom of the stairs, looking at the back of the heartless Shichibukai. With a few cursing under her breath, she flew out of the castle together with countless other ghosts that she created using her ability to look for Zoro in the ruins.

* * *

"Oi stupid swordsman!" Perona shouted as she saw his figure from afar. His back was facing her, sitting on the ground, one leg propped up and another one crossed. Perona squint her eyes to look at him and realize he doesn't look like he didn't bleed a lot from his back, this means that he have probably receive a direct hit from Mihawk from the front. His three swords unsheathed, two of them lying on the ground while one of them was stabbed into the ground.

Perona's brow furrowed at the typical swordsman-got-defeated scene as she flew closer to him.

"Oi Zoro!" Perona grabbed his shoulder and pushed him up so that she could take a look at the injuries on his chest.

"Oi, what are you doing?" Zoro jerked up from the sudden force, pinkness flashed across his eyes and he realized it was the Ghost Princess.

"I knew it! He almost killed you!" Perona shrieked at the amount of blood tainting his white shirt.

"It was just a small scar…"

"Huh?! You can't even walk back to the castle and you call this a small scar?! Wait! Are you suffering from blood loss that's why you can't even move?!" Perona's face paled, she tried to help Zoro up but Zoro took her hands away and get up himself.

"Stupid swordsman! Stop acting tough, it's not like I haven't seen your half-dead body before!" Perona screamed as she fly around with feelings of anxiousness overflowing into her. Yet Zoro acted like nothing happen as he walked to his scattered katana and picked them up. He sheathed them and kept them to his haramaki while Perona is still flying around him.

"Stop flying around! I'm getting dizzy!"

Perona stopped on her track, she looked at Zoro. He was struggling to walk, using his katana to stable himself on the ground. "Like I said, I'm not hurt, something just happened so I didn't go back with Mihawk," blood still oozing from his chest.

Perona fly towards him, "You are not hurt," She echoed, she frowned. Zoro nodded and they started going back to the castle again. Perona get down on her feet and walked beside Zoro, in case he suddenly fell onto the ground or something.

Zoro wanted to laugh at her actions but tried his best to keep a straight face, he must admit, he is glad that they are starting to talk again.

* * *

Back at the castle in Zoro's room, Zoro was lying on the bed, his wounds all wrapped up, in fact it make him look like a Mummy. On the other hand, Perona went to prepare Dinner and she ordered him to lie there to rest.

Zoro tried to get up to remove some of the bandages but retreated back to the bed as he felt a sharp pain on his chest and abdomen. Zoro lie back on his back as he recall what happened during the duel.

Flashback

It was their weekly duel, the 2 swordsman stand in the middle of the ruins, Baboons have all went into hiding as they sense the deadly aura surrounding the world greatest swordsman. The mist was heavy as usual, but poses no difficulty to the 2 swordsmen. Perona was nowhere to be found, she have seen it so many times that she know the outcome is going to be the same.

The green hair man tried to focus all his senses onto the man in front of him, he know he can't defeat him yet, but he want to know how far he can go, how near is he to his goal. Both the swordsmen tightened their grip to prepare for the fight. Mihawk isn't going to underestimate him, he know clearly of the potential the young man in front of him have, but today there's some other lesson he need to learn, and it's not about swords.

Zoro break the silence as he charged full force towards Mihawk with his katana pointing at him. Mihawk positioned his big sword pointing towards the ground, waiting for Zoro to come as he fixed his gaze at the fighting style of Zoro, thinking of a way to break it.

"Gyuki: Yuzume," Zoro murmured, it means Cattle Demon: Brave Hoof. The aura of a bull can be seen behind Zoro as he uses this attack, it's as if it was the attack of the bull, strong and fierce.

"Kokuto Issen," Mihawk strategically swing his sword horizontally, sending a wave of compressed air traveling towards Zoro. Their swords met, Mihawk blocked his attack and Zoro suffered from the blow by Mihawk's sword. The waves of compressed air continue to travel behind Zoro, cutting the remaining debris in the ruins.

Despite the injuries he was suffering at the front, Zoro is able to prevent Mihawk from performing a full fledge attack. Zoro lunges himself forward to push back Mihawk and take a jump back. Their blades continue to dance around them in the ruins; sounds of metal clanking onto each other filled the air. Mihawk manage to dodge all the attacks from Zoro with ease and remain composure. Zoro on the other hand, was already near to death for a few times. He panted hard, gasping air as he continue to attack, but none of them is able to land on Mihawk. It was however, understandable since he was against the World Greatest Swordsman. While Zoro takes on the offensive side, Mihawk remains defensive; his Hawkeyes remained focus, as if he could see through the opponent's weakness.

Finally, Mihawk pushed Zoro back with a wave of air, Zoro jumped back and readied himself in the air as he perform a flying technique and lunges forward towards Mihawk, but what Mihawk said next took away half of his energy away.

"What happen between the two of you?" Mihawk asked casually, as if it was a small chat between tea, just that it is between fights now. Mihawk glide his sword back, ready to counter the attack by Zoro.

"Huh..?" Surprised by why Mihawk will bring this up so suddenly, his full power instantly decrease by half as he loses his concentration.

"Don't lose your concentration," Mihawk warned, but have no intention to stop his counter attack. Zoro recover his proper state of mind but was too late. Mihawk glide his sword on the ground and thrust it forward in a crescent shape towards Zoro. He tried to block it with his katana but the force was too huge, which greatly overpower him.

"A swordsman shouldn't give in to distractions of the surrounding."

Mihawk keep his sword on his back as he walk back to the castle, leaving Zoro alone in the ruins, his katana scattered around on the ground.

"I hope you solve the problem soon… I'll be going to a Shichibukai meeting tonight, recover before I come back."

Zoro remained sitting on the ground; he heard Mihawk's footsteps' sound slowly diminished in the background, but his words still echoing in his mind.

End of Flashback

It's not that he doesn't want to break the ice first, but he just feel unhappy, flustered, and irritated about that incident. He was unhappy that Perona reject his care, and he still doesn't get why. He wasn't someone so petty, so he finds it even more annoying that he is thinking about it so much and acting like a kid. Even to the point of ignoring Perona to show that he is unhappy about the incident that night.

"Oi! Stupid Swordsman!" He can feel a warm temperature on his shoulder, he recalled the time when Perona's worried face flashed in front of him at the ruins. He continued to close his eyes, still thinking about what happen afterwards.

"Oi! Are you dead?!" The voice continues to get louder, the hand on his shoulder started to shake him violently. Zoro opened his eyes reluctantly, and realize it was Perona.

She was already wearing her pajamas with her naturally curly long hair cascading over her bare shoulder, her hand holding on to a tray with a bowl of porridge and a spoon.

"You cooked that?" This is the first time Perona prepared porridge, he hope he's not the guinea pig, even though it looks safe, but one cannot underestimate the power of the pink hair girl.

Perona placed the tray on the chair and helped him up, she then placed the tray on his lap so he could eat it himself.

"I cooked it properly this time round…"

"Huh, so you aren't cooking them properly the rest of the time?"

"No! I mean… I tried to control the flavor and spices this time round…" Perona sat back on the chair, looking embarrassed.

Zoro heaved a sigh of relief as he can consider this bowl of porridge safe. He took a mouthful of it and furrowed his eyebrow. It was a bowl of porridge with sweet potato.

"I don't see how you control the flavor!" Zoro snapped. _It's still too god damn sweet for goodness' sake._

"I used only sugar!"

"…" _Sugar is fine, but how much is the problem here,_ Zoro thought to himself as he twitched his eyebrow.

"Just eat it and stop complaining! Just when I put so many efforts in making it for you…" Perona stopped as she realized what she just said, and corrected herself shortly. "I… I mean, it's for that day."

"That day?" The day when they argued, that's the first thing that come into his mind.

"Ya… Sorry for that night, and thanks for the care…" The pink hair girl muttered, as she looked down, her bangs hide her face from Zoro. But Zoro didn't need to look at her face to tell her expression, he could tell she was embarrassed now.

"I'm sorry too, for going into your room, and ignoring you the past few days," Zoro apologized too, he didn't know why, he was certain he won't apologize to this selfish girl in front of him, but after hearing her words, he wasn't that angry anymore.

Deep in them, both of them was glad, at least now they can get back to their usual bickering again.

"Oi, water."

"Huh…? Why? And, I'm not your slave!"

"It's too sweet!"

"JUST GULP IT DOWN AND APPRECIATE IT!"

* * *

**Hi guys, please help me to improve by reviewing! It's really depressing when no one review, even though I'm still gonna write, but review please!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi! I've gotten a beta-reader, Untied Fate! She's amazing, I swear! ^^ **

**And, thanks for the reviews, fave, and followings! :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece**

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**Chapter 10 - Their First Time Training Together**

She couldn't believe it; she had actually agreed to help Zoro train.

Perona stood in the middle of the ruins. The green haired swordsman stood before her still wrapped up in bandages reminding her of a mummy. It had been two days since he got injured and he already was insisting on training. Zoro suggested that Perona train with him using her Negative Hollows, which Perona couldn't reject because otherwise, he would just go off and train with the baboons.

"Oi, we can start now." Zoro said impatiently.

Today's learning objective was speed, specifically to be fast enough to dodge the ghosts and find an opening to attack the eccentric Ghost Princess.

"Mmm…" Perona seemed reluctant even the ghosts floating beside her didn't seem to have their usual lust for negativity. She softly muttered the name of her attack and one of the apparitions made its way to the target.

Zoro entered his Santoryu position, lowering himself before spinning with his swords to create a tornado, "Tatsu Maki." Despite his attack, the spook still flew through his body causing the swordsman to fall to all fours, "I want to be a snail living under the leaves…"

"What are you doing not dodging? You're supposed to work on speed and dodging skills not your Dragon Twister." She chided with a yawn.

"I just thought if I could blow it away…" he replied, his face dusted pink from the embarrassment of what he'd said although he should have been used to it by now.

"There's no way to blow it away, idiot!" she retorted her hands on her hips, "My ghosts are immune to physical attacks!"

"Again."

The training slowly got back on track, taking on the form of a cat and mouse game; Zoro being the mouse and the hollows being the cats. He ran as fast as he could holding all three of his swords while the ghosts continued to chase. Perona was impressed with Zoro's ability to outrun the apparitions. Things started to look like a running race. Both competitors ran in a circle almost in the shape of a track field. They were pretty close together but after a while Zoro gained some distance from the Hollow. This made Perona wonder if her hollows got tired and she entertained the idea of summoning another hollow.

She refocused on the running match again, pondering how and where she should summon her next attack but when she looked at the swordsman he was no longer running in the usual circle.

_Did he…get…lost? No, he's running towards me isn't he?!  
_  
Perona shrieked as the realization came back to her. This training was about attacking her too. It was almost too late as she dodged flying to the side just as Zoro brought down his swords where she had been standing.

"Oi! You trying to kill me?" She shouted as she glared at him. Her hollow caught up but didn't attack; it merely hid behind the princess to witness another argument.

"Huh? I thought you were immune to physical attacks?" he replied giving her a why-you-dodging look.

"That's instinct! Instinct! Who in their right mind would just stand there while some crazy green haired demon runs at them with that murderous look in his eyes?!"

Zoro sheathed all his katana while looking at her curiously and prepared to go back to the castle.

"Oi, oi, where are you going? The castle is this direction," She quipped, already too lazy to figure out his epic sense of direction.

Zoro kept a straight face while he ran his hand through his hair and turned to follow Perona.

"Hey, how did Usopp manage to beat you anyway?"

She flinched at the question, thankfully, without Zoro noticing, "You think I'd tell you the story of my shameful defeat?"

"Mmm, I guessed as much," he replied as he walked beside her. His curiosity was growing. How was she defeated if she was immune to physical attacks?

* * *

Dinner ended and Perona flew back to her room. Zoro didn't get any injuries today but she still needed to help him clean and re-bandage the wounds inflicted by Mihawk. She flew to her bathroom and opened the tap for hot water. While she waited for the steam to fill the room, she needed to do something.

She slowly glided toward a coffin that stood vertically at one end of her room. It was worn and looked old. Red and pink striped decorated the all black coffin and it was in good condition despite its old and worn out look. It wasn't locked either, in fact, it stood partially open. As Perona neared it and almost flew into the coffin the door was thrown open.

"Oi, Perona when is-"Zoro bravely walked in despite the previous argument they'd gone through.

Perona shrieked and immediately halted her path to the coffin staring at the Santoryu user in surprise as he came closer.

"Do you need to get so shocked? Who else would be here but me?" He asked as he ran a hand through his hair and continued to walk towards her.

"WHAT…err...what are you..." Perona stuttered. Her eyes continually glanced at the coffin behind her and she slowly moved her tiny body over to try to block the coffin from a certain man. She blinked nervously and her grip tightened on the handle of her umbrella to the point her knuckles were white. Everything was so obvious, that even the idiot that was Zoro could tell she was acting weird…weirder that her usual self.

"I just wanted to ask when Mihawk was coming back." Zoro stated flatly trying to figure out what had gotten the Ghost Princess so riled up. He could see that she was trying to hide the coffin behind her which meant that something was wrong with the coffin itself, at least in his way of thinking.

"I…I'm not sure, I…" She continued to stutter. She was growing increasingly frustrated in her lack of forming sentences. She had to get him out of her room now before he suspected something.

"Go…go back to your room right now! You Swordsman Pervert Half Dead!" Perona snapped unaware of the fact that she was now acting very differently than what was normal.

Zoro could clearly tell that something was wrong and it most likely had something to do with the coffin she was trying so hard to hide. She wasn't acting like herself. She answered his questions instead of chasing him out like she usually did, "You even got the sequence wrong." He stated referring to the very long nick name she usually called him. He ignored the nervous Princess and strode towards the coffin, determined to figure out what was inside that made the normally arrogant girl so nervous and twitchy.

Perona watched desperately as Zoro got to the coffin and reached out a hand to open it. She had to think of something quick, this was a life and death situation!

"Negative Hollow!" Perona let out the breath she'd been holding as one of her cute hollows emerged at flew straight at Zoro.

However, Zoro's quick reflexes from the earlier training had him do a quick squat to avoid getting hit. He knew that these ghosts, like their master, are simple minded. They are only capable of chasing, they don't know how to stop or make quick turns.  
Zoro's move disturbed the balance of the coffin and it began to fall towards the swordsman who easily kept it from falling over. In the middle of all the disaster, he could see Perona's relief at the coffin being safe.

Sadly, everything wasn't over yet. The Hollow managed to turn and was flying back to its intended target.

"Stop!" Perona commanded. If the ghost hit him now, it would go through the coffin first! That couldn't happen. The hollow tried to come to a stop, like a car going at high speed screeching and braking. It passed through the coffin anyway and stopped just in front of Zoro.

"I was to be reborn as a worm…" Perona cried dejectedly falling to all fours as the negative aura settled over her.

Confused, Zoro stood up and looked at Perona. The hollow next to him looked at its master too both of its transparent arms covering its mouth as if knowing it did something wrong.

While both master and apparition were distracted Zoro lay the coffin down and opened it and was shocked to find…Perona?

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**Review! :) **


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks for the reviews for the previous chapter! Really appreciated! **

**Firstly, Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece**

**Secondly, thanks untied fate for being the beta reader for this story, it definitely make things easier to read, thanks! **

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**Chapter 11 – His First Time Learning Her Secret**

"What...is this?" Came Zoro's stinging question as he looked from Perona to the open coffin beside her. Her eyes scanned the coffin while furiously running through various explanations for the best answer to give to him.

_What can I say in this situation? Should I lie?_

She glanced at the swordsman; he was still waiting for an answer. The room had become so quiet that she could hear his heavy breathing.

_Is he angry and if so, for what reason?_

"Well…eh…that's-" The Princess stammered as she tried to form a sentence that would make sense. Her mind was in a haze. She needed to find the best approach for this plight. Her hand began to play with her hair as she bit her lip to try to concentrate. She was stalling and she could tell he knew from the way he narrowed his eyes at her.

"You were affected by the Hollows when they passed through the coffin." He stated calmly before bending down beside the casket to take a closer look at the seemingly lifeless copy of Perona. He seemed to have an idea of what this was about but he wanted to get the answers straight from the horse's mouth.

"Don't go near it! I-I mean…that's…just one of several parts to my abilities." She finally said just above a whisper and hung her head in defeat.

Zoro's face remained still as all the pieces of the puzzle came together. It wasn't completely clear yet but judging by her nervousness, one thing was clear to him, "So this is your weakness." When Perona nodded he continued, "That's why you forbade us to go into your room." Another nod, "Why? You think we'd try to kill you?"

Perona finally looked up at Zoro, he was right of course, but she couldn't just openly agree to his face. Her pride wouldn't let her, "I mean…initially. Of course I'd need to protect myself. After what happened at Thriller Bark why would I assume you'd let me live?"

"Do you still think I'll kill you?" Zoro demanded to know. The tone in his voice echoed in frustration. The thought that she didn't trust him even now didn't sit well with him. Even if she did have a point.

"Well…" She trailed off unable to find the right words to say. Any explanation she tries to come up with will only sound bad and wouldn't help this situation anyway. Before she could say another word, Zoro turned and stormed out of her room.

Zoro was uncertain about what his feelings for this whole fiasco were. He didn't feel angry…or maybe he did but it was more than just that. He couldn't put the right name to the way he was feeling.

* * *

Perona felt guilty. After two months of living with those two she should be able to at least trust them. If they wanted to kill her then they would have tried already. Why would they want to kill her anyway? Is it so wrong to stay on your guard?

Perona lay on her bed her pink locks splayed out over the pillow as her mind recalled the image of Zoro's bitter expression at her secret.

_He must be disappointed in me for not trusting him but it's not like we've been through so much that I'd trust my life to that idiot but…I guess we should at least have a mutual trust for each other. Maybe that's why he was upset,_ She thought to herself as she rolled over on the bed hugging a Kumashi in her arms while she continued to go over the conflict of earlier. She honestly didn't feel like she did anything wrong so why did she feel guilty? They'd just gotten over their Cold War too. She just hoped this didn't cause another one.

Suddenly, there was an unexpected crashing of what sounded like metal to hard floors. The racket continued for a bit getting louder and louder. Perona shot up in bed from the shock. She threw back her blankets, slipped into the black slippers that she kept next to her bed and trotted off towards the door.

_Sounds as if someone is in the kitchen, Zoro maybe?_

She tried to recall what they had for dinner and if Zoro hated it enough that he'd try to make his own food. Either way he was still pretty badly injured and she decided that it would be best if she checked on him just in case he reopened one of his wounds somehow and died.

She turned to the right toward the staircase and watched Zoro barge out of his room which was located in that same direction, _It can't be Mihawk he's left for a meeting and baboons wouldn't approach the castle. Zoro is right here which means…_

"Intruders!" They both shouted together.

Zoro had thought that it was Perona causing the entire racket but she was standing in front of him. He rushed out without even taking his katana since he didn't think it was a big deal. She usually caused a lot of noise with the cookware but now that he thought it could be intruders he debated whether to go back and get them.

The thought of intruders scared the Ghost Princess, but she was confidant in her abilities and reassured herself that she could handle it. She continued down the stairs and to the kitchen. She snuck a glance to make sure Zoro was following her; mostly to feel safe but also to make sure he didn't get lost. He may be an idiot but he was a reliable strong idiot. Not that she'd admit that to anyone but herself.

Zoro followed Perona without hesitation. He could handle this situation just as well with his bare hands anyway. He first and foremost wanted to ensure that she didn't get hurt. They reached the kitchen and their attention was immediately pulled to a mess on the floor. The stainless steel kitchen wares were toppled over and scattered across the floor. Judging by the way they lay, they fell from the hooks installed just above the stove. The only evidence that there was an intruder were scattered all over the floor some of the pots still turned from the fall.

Perona scanned the scene looking for any sign of someone inside. Her eyes finally landed on an open window. She walked over to it and looked out noticing the tree swaying violently as a gust of wind passed through the window almost knocking the small girl over, "Was it the wind?"

"Might be…seems like the most logical explanation."

"What do you know about logic? Logic says that you should be dead from all those wounds you have and yet here you are." Perona retorted placing a hand on her hip.

A vein appeared on the green haired man's forehead, "What was that?"

Perona ignored him as she closed the window and turned to look at the messy kitchen

Zoro couldn't sense anyone in the room other than themselves.

Perona sighed and began to pick up a few things off the floor before a shiver crawled up her spine and she dropped what she held causing more noise. The six-legged creature brought bad memories of Thriller Bark. She screamed and tried to get around the nasty thing toward the only reliable person in the room, "Noooooo! Help! Help! Help!"

Zoro hadn't been fully paying attention to her. He was momentarily lost in thought of how hewould have to sacrifice precious sleep to help tidy the mess. He had just started to pick up a few pots when he heard Perona's shriek. He quickly shot up raising his guard thinking it was the intruder and cursing himself for not sensing them. Instead of an intruder he was tackled by the Princess herself.

She jumped onto him and clung onto him causing him to raise his arms and carry her bridal style. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself as close to him as possible to get away from what she feared. Because of her pajamas, Zoro could almost feel her soft skin against him if not for her hair and his bandages. He was confused because he didn't see anyone threatening.

"What happened?" he asked confused. He knew his observation skills weren't that bad. So what would frighten Perona to the point she shook like a leaf? She pointed to the ground in answer her hand unsteady as she shook and she squeezed her eyes shut. She was so close that he could feel her heart pounding in her chest. His gaze went from her face to the ground she pointed at and resisted the urge to laugh at the creature she was so afraid of.

"That's just a cockroach," He said flatly unable to comprehend how this could be even remotely terrifying.

"Go away!" Perona shrieked.

"So you want me to put you down and go away?" He teased and began to set the girl down and chuckled as she clung on to him even tighter trying not to touch the floor.

"No! Make it go away! Kill it! Just kill it!" She cried The memories of Usopp's attack now taking over her mind. She could practically feel the damn things crawling all over her and it sent a chill through her body.

"So I crush it with my hand and carry you again?" He continued to tease her but it wasn't funny for the Ghost princess anymore.

"NO!" She stared threateningly at Zoro, the look on her face was murderous.

Zoro chuckled as he turned and began the walk back to the third floor where their rooms were following the green arrows. From his room he could follow the pink arrows since they only led from his room to hers.

"Why didn't you just fly away?" he asked wondering now if it was just her plan to grab onto him.

"I'm in my body now." She replied now more calm than before. She could be let down now if she wanted. "I can't fly when I'm in my body, it's part of the ability."

"No wonder I've never seen you fly in Kawarime Town…"

"Mmm," She answered softly, "I can't leave my body in the castle alone…and…you aren't angry, are you?"

She looked up to see his expression and blushed slightly seeing how close they were. She was comfortable in his arms and after a few moments she moved her gaze from his face to his bandaged chest. It wasn't the first time she'd seen it but being so close it was embarrassing.

"Erm...you can put me down now." She said loosening her grip in his arms.

Zoro was reluctant to put her down but was good enough to try and hide it. He wasn't going to admit that he had enjoyed teasing and playing the hero to her for once. She was kind of cute when she was scared not that it happened very often.

"No, I'm not mad…just unhappy that you don't trust me I guess." He answered truthfully with a slight shrug.

Perona sighed in relief, straightened her pajamas and her hair that was ruffled by the chaos that transpired just moments ago.

Zoro's gaze followed her hands as she smoothed out her frizzy locks and he absent-mindedly spoke, "I think you look better when you let your hair down…"

Perona paused and then looked up at him slightly shocked at his words. She concluded something must be wrong.

Noticing her curious gaze, Zoro looked away awkwardly, "Just saying.." he mumbled walking passed her to follow the green arrows back to his room.

"I'll take that as a compliment then but its awkward coming from someone like you." She followed behind him making a mental note to let her hair down more often.

"What do you mean someone like me?" He retorted as he reached the top of the staircase where they would part ways since their rooms were in opposite directions.

"Good-night brute." Perona said cheerily ignoring his question and turning away to go to her room.

"Oi! I-" he called after her clearly unhappy with the words she'd used to describe him.

"Oh, and wake up earlier than usual to clean up the mess in the morning!" With that she disappeared into her room, leaving Zoro alone at the junction at the stairs.

Zoro hung his head, "Now I'm her slave again…"

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	12. Chapter 12

**Beta read by Untied Fate**

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**Chapter 12 – Their First Time Learning Together**

It was the usual clouds and fog in Kuraigana; the supposed glaring sun hidden by the nature mist of the ruins. It had been a few weeks now that Mihawk returned from his meeting and he'd called upon his disciple for a new lesson today.

Inquisitive by nature, Perona decided to tag along with them. Both master and apprentice stood facing each other while Perona, herself, stood a few yards away. Wanting to prove to Zoro that she wasn't scared of him anymore, she opted to stay in her body despite its inconvenience and her preference of flight.

She wore her usual strapless dress and crown with her cascading pink hair flowing around her shoulders in four spiral braids. She claimed that it was because this style was "cuter" but mostly it was because of Zoro's compliment.

"Today is about Haki. It is a power that is found in every living being," Mihawk began and glanced at Perona meeting her gaze, "It requires a certain amount of concentration."

Perona narrowed her eyes and pouted before sticking out her tongue when the sword master wasn't looking. She could be distracting but only when she thought it was alright.

"There are three types of Haki. The two main ones are Observation Haki and Armament Haki. The third is a more rare type that only certain people can attain; this includes your Captain and is called Conqueror's Haki."

"Luffy?"

"He used it during the 'War of The Best' and it allows the user to dominate the wills of others. Those too weak to handle this power, black out. He does not seem aware of this ability as of yet but should he be able to harness and control it, he will be a fearsome opponent," Mihawk paused to let this information be absorbed by the not so bright First Mate of the Straw Hats, "I'll teach you the first two Haki. They will be an essential tool when you enter the New World. It will allow you to battle against those with Logia type Devil Fruits."

"Logia types. Like that bastard Kizaru?" Zoro recalled Sabaody Archipelago. The memory still fresh in his mind of how he'd pushed himself too far and could only lay on the ground. His heart hammered away at his ribcage while listening to the Admiral power up an attack to take his life. He'd been powerless to help himself much less help the others and he vowed to never feel like that again. They'd faced others with Logia type powers but it was because of Luffy's cleverness and power that they were able to defeat the likes of Crocodile and Enel.

"Yes, without Haki, Challenging the Admirals will be suicide. To make it clearer I'll give you an example," Mihawk cast his piercing gaze at Perona once more, "You, Ghost Girl, attack me with your Negative Hollows."

Perona, who'd been listening intently, jumped slightly at being spoken to. Her eyes brightened and she grinned. She'd always wanted to know what "Hawk-eye" would say should he be hit with her hollows. Now the opportunity presented itself and as she prepared to attack she hesitated. What if it really affects the sword master and he decides to take action out of embarrassment? She was in her body now, "Oi, what if this is a trick and you kill me?"

Mihawk simply waited, his frown deepening when she still hadn't attacked.

Perona pouted, clutching the handle to her umbrella a little tighter before sending a hollow toward Mihawk with a murmured, "Negative Hollow."

The unnatural hair colored pair watched as the ghost passed through Mihawk. Zoro figured nothing would happen. This was Mihawk after all.

"This is Armament Haki. It allows the user to create an invisible armor around them. There are also other uses to the Armament Haki such as landing a blow to those with Logia type powers. You can also enhance current attacks and they'll be stronger." The deep timbre explained looking from one to the other as they absorbed all the information being relayed to them, "Now, attack me, Zoro. I'll demonstrate Observation Haki next."

The corner of Zoro's mouth twitched upward slightly as his eager hand reached for Shusui, "I thought you'd never ask." He began to attack his mentor who easily evaded every move despite how fast he was.

"Observation Haki allows one to predict their opponents moves before they actually attack allowing for one to evade. It is also used to sense the presence of other including emotions and strengths when you train in it long enough. Example, there are around 200 baboons on the island right now."

Zoro sheathed Shusui, impressed. This reminded him of Mantra on the Sky Island. While he was impressed by this ability, and inwardly excited that he was capable of learning such techniques, he knew that to attain such power would require hard work; something he understood quite well. "Then let's start training."

Mihawk, pleased with the Santoryu's answer, nodded before regarding Perona without looking at her, "Ghost Girl. You may stay and observe or go and train somewhere else on your own. I won't allow distractions."

Perona pouted crossing her arms over her chest and huffed as she walked into the forest, _who wants to train with you anyway?_

With that, a new training regimen began for the two youngsters.

* * *

Perona stood beside the grand dining room table making sure that everything was in place. She eyed the delicious food that she attempted to perfect today. Mihawk had said that he had something important to address with the two. She decided on Western food hoping it would lighten up the sword master's mood to hopefully deter him from giving any bad or negative new. She may be princess of negativity but even she didn't always want bad news. Mihawk had always been a serious type but something in the way he'd brought up this announcement had Perona thinking it was more serious than usual. She had an idea of what was to come but she wasn't 100% sure. One of her guesses was that Mihawk had decided to go on some adventure and leave her and the green haired idiot alone.

She frowned slightly at that thought. She wasn't sure how much she liked that idea not that it mattered much. Being with one idiot swordsman or two, it didn't make her life any better.

It had been a month now since the Haki training began. Since the first day Perona hadn't seen much of Zoro. They didn't talk, or bicker, as often as they had in the past. Zoro immediately began training once breakfast was over. They never had time for lunch or dinner either which usually resulted in Perona taking lunch out to them in the ruins.

On occasion, she'd take one for herself and eat quietly or she'd wait for them to finish and eat with them, but that was rare since they often stayed out late into the night honing Zoro's abilities.

Zoro hardly got any serious wounds so she didn't need to be bandaging him up every night either, even if she sort of missed taking care of the idiot. She'd grown somewhat used to the routine of making dinner and going into his room every night. There was even less interaction between the two since Perona herself, found a few ways to train herself.

Today would be the last day of training, according to Mihawk, and that his announcement would be made during dinner. This had been exciting for Perona because she had begun to feel lonely all alone in the mansion all day. Even if the two were idiots, they were all she. So she decided on a grand dinner everything was in place and perfect. Now all that was left were said idiots.

She walked and sat in her seat and after a few moments, pouted kicking her legs beneath the table childishly, _Those blockheads are taking _too _long!_

After another few minutes of impatient waiting, both Zoro and Mihawk made their grand entrances and sat in their respective seats.

"Oi! You're both late," She complained while seated. She glared at the two as they began eating. She then sighed and began to pick at her own plate.

"It's cold," Mihawk stated looking at the steak on his plate.

"That's because you two were so late and because I waited for you two for so damn long!" she said her voice rising before she took another bite of her food.

"At least it's cooked all the way through," Zoro commented with indifference.

Mihawk smirked inwardly, he could see that she'd been eagerly waiting for them. She must have been happy to know they'd all be together for dinner again.

"Don't take it for granted or I'll put sugar in all the dishes again." She threatened. Suger had become her weapon of choice since they'd all come to rely on her meager cooking skills in the past few months. It almost worked better than her Hollows.

"Ah, Mihawk, what did you want to tell us?" Zoro asked ignoring Perona's threats and faced his teacher who had somehow acquired a glass of wine out of thin air.

"You've learned the basics of Haki but to fully use it you still need more practice. The baboons won't be as efficient as in the past. There will be a new training method put in place."

_I knew it…I thought that this had something to do with me at least. It's so boring around here now_, Perona thought to herself as she heaved a sigh and placed her chin in her hand and a slight pout to her lips.

"This involves you too, Ghost Girl."

Perona sat up eagerly her eyes livelier than before, "Really? Wait, how can anything relating to training involve me? Sounds boring and troublesome after all."

"It's up to you if you want to go or not." He replied before turning back to his apprentice, "Rather than fighting the endless baboons here, you'll be going to neighboring islands to fight."

"Other islands?" Zoro questioned, this was definitely getting his attention. Seeing the same places everyday was getting tiresome. He glanced over at Perona who looked as though she were contemplating on going or not. He'd been so focused on the training that he didn't realize until right then she'd been by herself this whole time. He felt slightly guilty but he needed to further his training for himself and for his captain. At least now she'd be able to go with him.

"You will go to different places to fight people and monsters. They will be of a certain level higher than you and they will push you to your limits. You will encounter different opponents with varying abilities use this time to sharpen you Haki skills as well as your sword techniques."

Zoro nodded a twitch of a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth his eye eager, "Where to first? Who's my opponent?"

* * *

The wind howled fiercely, deafening the two youngsters that were in the middle of the snow-capped island. They had followed Mihawk's order to come to this winter island and complete some mission. According to Mihawk, the mission was simple and would take less than a day. They reached the island two hours ago and a certain princess had already started complaining much to the swordsman's trying patience.

"If you don't like it, why did you come anyway?" Zoro growled as he led the way.

"**Someone** had to make sure you didn't get lost ba-ka. It's so damn cold!"

"I don't get lost! You just didn't want to be alone while Mihawk was away again." Zoro retorted as he tried to use his Observation Haki to sense any presence. None, he furrowed his brows at the thought of being unable to control his newfound ability.

"Argh! What work does he have to do anyway?" Perona grumbled pulling her coat around her tighter.

"Patrolling the Grand Line and killing pirates?" Zoro offered. That was how he was even able to meet Mihawk before entering the Grand Line. He'd say it was just to kill time but it was most likely part of his job as a Warlord.

Perona groaned again, "And where is that stupid thing he wanted us to find?" She was beginning to regret her decision of following Zoro here. He was only half right about her not wanting to be alone. She really actually wanted a reason to be around him and possibly annoy him. She certainly missed their bickering but she did NOT enjoy this freezing weather. She half wished she'd left her body somewhere warm so she wouldn't be as uncomfortable.

"He said that once we reached the island, we only had to continue going East." Zoro replied as he continued to walk through the thick snow.

"Do you have any idea which direction we've been heading this whole time?" Perona said a hint of mockery in her voice.

"East of course, are you dumb?" _who the hell would walk any other direction after being told to go East?_

Perona sighed as she attempted to gain her bearings. She looked around and realized how bad a situation they were in. All she could see was a blanket of white across an endless barren land, "I can't even tell which direction we're going in…"

_I _really_ shouldn't have tagged along. We're literally in the middle of nowhere, _she thought to herself as she sighed again.

"Like I said, we're going in the right direction. Just shut up and follow me." Zoro grumbled, _why doesn't anyone _ever _believe me?_

"That's…literally the last thing I want to do…do you not realize you need a guide just to get to your own room in the castle? How do you expect to navigate a whole island?" She inhaled deeply and sighed, she was too tired to argue anymore. She just hoped that luck would be on their side and that they complete this mission as soon as possible and go home.

_Wait…how do we get back to the ship?!_

* * *

**Review~! **


	13. Chapter 13

**Previously,**

**Mihawk had given Zoro and Perona a mission to a Winter Island. With Zoro leading the way, Perona lamented about how her fate will end in this Winter Island, which led her realizing that they doesn't even know how to go back to their own ship.**

* * *

**Present. Chapter 13 - Their First Mission**

Chapter 13 – Their First Mission

In the middle of the Grandline lies a Winter Island which compromises snow-capped and lofty mountains. The land was thick and white with snow as the snow fell wildly from the grey and gloomy sky.

In the distance, two figures could be seen lumbering across the mountain, against the harsh wind. The one leading the way was a tall man who was wearing a thick gray winter coat. It was buttoned up on the top like a military coat while the bottom was swaying along the wind. Brown fur covered his neck area, keeping him warm. His three katana hung by his side with his green haramaki. It can be seen slightly with the bottom of the coat unbuttoned. His right hand hidden in black gloves rests over them while a big bag of supplies hung over his left shoulder. With the protection from the winter gears, he was unmoved by the hostile temperature unlike his comrade who is following closely behind him.

His companion was a woman with long pink hair and black winter coat. The top part of her hair was tied into a small bun behind her head, and the lower portion of her hair was plaited into four spiral braids. The hem of her winter coat reached her thigh, and was decorated fully with furs. The fur was lined up along the neckline, keeping her neck warm. Underneath her coat, she was wearing her usual long dress. Unlike the man in front of her who seems unaffected by the cold, she hung her head down, protecting her face from the harsh wind. She looked down at the snow, following her companion's footprints as she hugged herself tightly, her black gloves rubbed against her black winter coat.

"I swear that stupid Shichibukai do this on purpose," She continued to complain, and the man in front of her continued to ignore. She had been complaining incessantly ever since they first stepped onto the island, despite the fact that she claimed to be 'tired', it doesn't seem like she's going to quit complaining.

She mumbled a few curse words under her breath as she recalled what ridiculous mission they have accepted a day ago.

Flashback

"This is a Winter Island on Grandline," Mihawk started to give the basic information regarding the first mission. "Your mission is to go there and get something."

"Take something?" Perona asked, how is that going to be a hard training for Zoro?

"Of course it won't be easy. Navigating your way on the Island itself will be tough due to the harsh weather. Even though I would say that you could easily complete the mission in a day if you don't get lost. In any case, there will be one person staying on the Winter Island. He will be your opponent," Mihawk explained, sipping a sip from his wine.

"Winter Island? Looks like we need to grab some Winter wear from the town before heading there…" Perona tilted her head to the side, planning the journey time and the supplies needed.

"Is he a swordsman?" Zoro asked.

"He's not, but he is not an easy opponent, you will know when you see him."

"Hmm… Then, where is the Winter Island?" Perona asked.

"Use this," Mihawk said as he placed an eternal log pose on the table. Perona grabbed the eternal log pose and took a close look at it. The word 'Yawarakai' is printed on it, with this, Perona have a total of 3 eternal pose, the other 2 namely Kuraigana and Kawarime.

"Yawarakai means… Soft?" This word does give a very good impression to this Winter Island.

"You will know when you get there."

"Hmm… Then what is it that we're supposed to get? Is it some type of treasure?" Perona continued to ask, hoping that Mihawk don't answer with 'You will know when you get there' again, it was getting annoying.

Mihawk smirked, much to Perona's surprise.

"Wine."

End of Flashback

"Argh! Damn that Shichibukai! I swear! He is simply making use of us to get his wine! What kind of mission is this?!" Perona complained in a querulous voice.

"He did say there is going to be a strong opponent…" Zoro mumbled as he kept heading towards the East.

"In the first place, why is this stupid place called Yawarakai?! It doesn't look soft at all, not even the snow!" Zoro nodded slightly to agree as they toiled through the thick snow.

The two of them continued their journey aimlessly for a few hours. Perona had stopped her constant complainings and instead, focused on keeping herself warm and following Zoro. The green hair man appeared to be unaffected by the long and harsh journey, but as far as his stamina allows him to continue, he is not sure if his companion could keep up any longer.

Thanks to Perona, they had bought along three days of supplies, so he isn't worried about the food. Nevertheless, the weather certainly doesn't look like it is going to change for the better. Hence, what really worried Zoro is, if they could actually find a shelter, or at least something to protect them from the wind.

Just when he was contemplating about their next step, the strong and harsh wind was suddenly replaced by a tranquil panorama of snow falling softly and harmlessly from the sky. As sudden as it could be, the two youngsters stopped on their track and mused over this sudden change.

" What is… Can weather really change so suddenly?" Perona mused out loud as she slowly lifted her head, inspecting the surrounding.

"Who knows," Zoro pressed his lips together, only at such time will he wish the navigator was around. "We're in the Grandline after all…" Perona nodded her head slightly in agreement as she looked around. Despite the change in weather, their location isn't any better, all she could see were endless layers of white velvet.

She hung her head in disappointment when the corner of her eyes spied something moving in the distance. "That's…" She tried to look closer but she can only see something moving in the snow. She elbowed Zoro and pointed in the distance to show him.

"What…" Zoro groaned as he followed her gaze and squinted at the sight.

"Oi… What's that moving on the snow…?"

"I don't know… But it looks like… Snow." From what Zoro saw, it certainly looks like snow to him. Those things are white as the snow, and they appeared a little round like snow too.

"Snow." Perona echoed as she rolled her eyes. "Let's take a look there then," She suggested and led the way slowly, the change in weather lifted up her spirit for a while.

As bizarre as it can be, the things that are moving in the snow, are indeed snow. Zoro and Perona had reached there after passing a huge plain. And what they saw certainly surprised them.

It was a Town of Snowmen. Snowman, literally meant two balls of snow piled on top of each other with the base one larger in size.

There was a huge sign at the entrance of the Town; on it printed "Yawarakai's Heaven". Igloos were lined up neatly along the pathway, each Igloos decorated differently. Apparently, it seems that they are in the shopping district, shops' signs were hung outside the Igloo, and the Snowmen were shopping happily, and some even chatting.

The two youngsters walked into the Town, amazed. Zoro furrowed his eyebrow as he became wary of his surroundings. Perona, on the other hand, cocked her head to the side as she tried to take in the information of living Snowmen.

There were Snowmen of different shape and sizes, some were significantly fatter, and some thinner. Some were shorter, and were tall. Instead of walking, which they couldn't since they does not have legs, they jumped, or rather bounced wherever they go. Some of the Snowmen are shopping and their hands, which are made of branches, were holding on to shopping bags which are made of Ice.

Zoro and Perona continued to walk through the street slowly as they looked at the things going on around them. Suddenly, a small snowman holding on to an ice cream-shaped snow ran into Zoro. His terrified small and black eyes looked up to find Zoro staring at him. "Uwa…wa…Uwaaaaaa!" The small snowman cried suddenly, bringing the attention of everyone onto the two youngsters. All the snowmen stared at the two human as they screamed in happiness.

"Humans! We're having guests. Human guests!" One of the Snowwomen yelled. As soon as that was announced, Snowmen and women began to crowd around them, the small snowman also stopped crying as another Snowwoman came to him, presumably his mother.

Zoro raised his eyebrow while Perona gasped at the sight, making her big eyes even bigger.

"It's okay, I'll get you another Snowcream, now apologize to Mr Human," The Snowwoman coaxed.

"Snow… Cream?" Perona asked, her sweet-meter started to blink as the word reminded her of something sweet.

"Yes, we sell it over there," The Snowwomen raised her hand, or rather her branches, and pointed it at a street vendor. The stall was made of Snow and was colorfully decorated with a flag hanging at the counter; on it printed "Snow Cream". If you could see clearly, there was a pile of Snow stacked at the rear of the counter.

"That's Snow… Isn't it?" Perona twitched her eye slightly.

"Snowmen eating Snow…" Zoro murmured under the breath, only for Perona to hear.

"That's basically eating your own flesh," She whispered back as she skimmed across the crowd. More and more snowmen are gathering, interested by their presence.

As they stood stiffly as an exhibit for the Snowmen, a group of Snowmen bounced towards them. A path was opened up for them as they came closer. The Five Snowmen looked almost alike to the rest except that they looked older. The snows on their face have a few broken lines that resembled wrinkles, and a few of them is even holding on to a walking stick. They have long white beard that are also made from snow, and a few of them appeared thinner.

"It's the Mayor!" Some of the Snowman exclaimed as they greeted the five old Snowmen respectfully. The one leading them must be the Major. Unlike the other 4 old Snowmen, he wore a black bow tie, making him stand out from the rest of them.

"Welcome Mr and Mrs Human. What brings you here?" The Major greeted, his small eyes looked cagily at the two humans in front of him.

"I'm not married!" Perona corrected him, "We're here to ask to look for some Wine, do you know where it is?"

"Wine…" The Major echoed as he turned back to look at the rest of the elders.

"Wine, they say." One of the elder whispered softly, they whispered among each other as though in a deep discussion.

"Yeah, she said."

"Wine!"

"She meant Wine?"

"He meant wine…"

"He?"

"He."

"She?"

"She…?" Ultimately, the five elders asked the same question as they turned over to look at the two humans.

"Are you… By any chance a male?" The Mayor asked.

"I'm a Female!" Perona shrieked with her high pitched voice, almost pushing back the Mayor with her voice. "What's your damn problem…"

"Oh I'm sorry, I thought women can't take alcohol…" The mayor explained. "Can you?" He asked with askance.

"Of… Of course I can! And what's your problem! Does it even matter? So, you know where it is?" Perona retorted while Zoro stood aside to look at them. He recalled the fact that he didn't see Perona taking in any alcohol so far.

"Well, I don't, but I could help you search in the Library. I do remember we have some Wines kept somewhere in the mountains…"

"Really?!" _Yes! I can finally go home now! _Perona brightened up at once.

"Yes of course! But!" The Mayor shouted suddenly, garnering the attention from everyone including the onlookers.

"You will have to help us with something," The Mayor continued with a lopsided grin on his snowy face.

"What…?" His smile sends shivers to Perona, and Perona is seriously debating if they should believe in this creepy Mayor.

"You better not do anything funny," Zoro who remained quiet all this while finally spoke up, his hand gripped his Katana unknowingly as he gazed at the Mayor.

"Chill young man! This is a Winter Island!" The Mayor exclaimed jokingly while he acted like he was scared. "I just need help in a few simple stuffs, mostly labor work, it's easy!"

"We need time to search for the information in the Library, so you'll work until we found it, fair enough?" Another elder spoke up.

"Let's go," Zoro grabbed Perona and ready to leave. There's no way he is going to waste his time working here for free.

"Wait!" Perona stopped him, "Just work! At least there's a bit of information, or else, without any directions, we won't be able to reach there, and we only have two days of supply with us." Perona explained, she seemed to be the logical one when she is with Zoro.

Zoro groaned inwardly as he contemplated what he should do but he was immediately grabbed by Perona by his arms. "He'll work!" Perona pointed at him as she smiled gleefully.

"Oh, right! But I bet you're tired now, I can provide with you shelter!" The Mayor said excitedly as he ushered them to move ahead, leading them to a quieter area filled with Igloos. This is probably the residential area.

Perona face lit up at the fact that there will finally be shelter, but her danger alarm lit up immediately to think that such stranger will help them. Perona slowed down her footsteps as the awkward quietness crept into her. She came to a halt on her trail as she thinks through quickly about their situation.

"Yes, girl?" The Mayor asked.

"No, nothing…"

Zoro who had been walking behind caught up with them and he nudged her to move forward. He whispered softly as he walked passed her, "Don't worry, nothing will happen."

His words definitely eased her mind, she caught up to the Mayor as she glanced at Zoro. His hand is clutching tightly onto his Katana.

After a short distance, they finally reached an Igloo. It wasn't specifically decorated, but at least it looked like it could provide them with some shelter.

"We've reached! I believed you have gone through some rough journey to come here, especially the harsh winds outside of this calm region. Nevertheless, rest well! And Mr Human, your job will commence tonight!" The Mayor finished his explanation and walked back together with the rest of the elders.

"Wait!" Perona called him. "What job is it?"

"We're having a White Christmas tonight, and we are short of people to prepare some celebration stuffs. Miss Human could come and have fun with us too!"

"White...Christmas? It's not even near December…"

"Well… Every day is a White Christmas here!"


	14. Chapter 14

**Previously: **

**Zoro and Perona went to the Igloo provided by the Snowman to rest. In order to exchange for Information regarding the wine, Zoro agreed, or rather Perona agreed on letting Zoro help with some labor work for the upcoming White Christmas Celebration. **

* * *

**Chapter 14 – Their First Mission Part 2**

'I wonder what type of work there are to prepare for Christmas...' Perona mumbled as she munched on the bread that they had packed.

'Whatever it is, you're not the one working...' Zoro grumbled with his eyes closed, he was leaning against the Igloo wall, sleeping as usual.

'Well of course, a Princess does not do work. And you're the slave here!' She pointed out in a matter of fact tone. Zoro frowned slightly but remained quiet, he had already gotten used to her Princess attitude. It had been a few hours since the Mayor left them in the Igloo, they would probably come by soon to get him to work. They had better know where the location of the damn wine is, or he will not let them off so easily.

Knock-Knock-!

'Psshh! Excuse me! Time for work!' The elder snowman crooned softly, afraid of waking up anyone who might be sleeping. Thin and fragile branches pushed the wooden door opened. The Snowman's hand, or branch pushed against the thick wooden door weakly, wobbling from the weight of the wooden door, it almost seems like it would break any moment.  
Zoro stood up to hold the door for him while he glanced outside the Igloo. Behind the Snowman were a box filled with Dial-looking item and an empty box. A string was tied to both the box, which explains how the weak looking elder Snowman was able to drag it to them.

'Aha! Hi Mr Human, did you have a good rest?' The Snowman smiled cheerfully at Zoro, following his gaze, which landed at the box of Dials. 'Ah, we're having a Christmas Party tonight, so we need to have some spoilt light dials replaced. As you can see, they were hung up very high up on trees, so it is quite difficult for us to change it ourselves. Normally we just ignore them until some human came by. Anyway, this will be your first job!' The Snowman exclaimed, handling Zoro a piece of paper.

'This is the map of our Town, just head to the Square and check the trees surrounding it, there will be light dials hung onto the trees already. Just switch on each dial individually to check if they are working, just replace those that are spoilt, and keep the spoilt one in the other empty box. Have to be green, yeah? Good luck on your job!' The Snowman smiled again, as he slowly bounced away towards the town.

Zoro walked out of the Igloo to inspect the box of light dials as Perona followed him out.  
'What's that?' Perona's hand hovered over the light bulbs and took one of them to examine.

'Light Dial, I suppose,' Zoro answered, they do resemble the dials in the Sky Island. The light dial was in a shell shape with the base in a more translucent color. Zoro picked up one of them and pressed the apex of the Shell and blue light shone out of the base of the shell immediately.

Perona imitated his action, took a few Dials, and pressed the top of it, and apparently, different dials give out different colors. Perona cried in amazement as it was her first time looking at such stuffs.

"This is so cute! It's my first time playing with such things!" Perona exclaimed, still playing with the different dials on her hand, pressing the apex continuously like a kid with a new toy. Meanwhile, Zoro stacked the two boxes together and lifted them up, walking to wherever he needed to go.

"Wait! Pass me the map!" Perona forced her attention away from the new toys as she quickened her steps to catch up Zoro. She took the map that Zoro placed in between the boxes and examined the map as she looked around. "We're currently in the residential area. So… we need to walk to the front to leave this area. Then turn left and up here then straight to the square where the Party will be held… I guess we could start fixing the lights around this area first, starting from the left, so just walk straight first and…" Perona continued to analyze the map while Zoro followed behind her.

After a moment of walking and preventing Zoro from heading the wrong way, they finally reached their destination, the Square. It was a troublesome job as Zoro has to climb to the top of the tree and check the light dials individually to see if they are working.

Under Perona guidance, Zoro started from the tree that is nearest to the entrance by the left. Zoro climbed up the tree and press the apex of each dial, checking if they are lighting up. When identified a spoilt one, he would untie the wire that was connected to the Dial and throw it down to the empty box. Perona will then assist him by throwing a new working Dial back to him for him to tie it to the tree again.

After that one month of serious training, Perona was able to float even with her body now. However, because of her stamina, she was unable to maintain herself in the air for too long. She could only keep herself in the air for ten minutes or so, and flying will only make her last a shorter period of time.

While Zoro was busy checking the other Dials, Perona will float up the tree to make sure that every tree has different colors of Light Dial. It probably was a waste of time for Zoro, but she was excited to be able to decorate the trees for Christmas. She was able to do it continuously since she gets to recover her stamina when she needs to assist Zoro in throwing him the new Light Dials.

After an hour or two of working on the Light Dials, they have finally completed the entire area surrounding the Square.

"Finally! This job is so tiring!" Perona stretched herself lazily as she continued to admire her work. She had made sure that each tree has different colors of the Light Dial, and she even makes sure that the colors complement each other, she even hung some higher than the others in a pattern to make everything look nicer.

"You asked for it," Zoro grumbled as he leaned against a tree to rest. He was forced by that irritating and selfish Princess to make sure the colors of the light Dials do not repeat in a single tree, and to hang them in a high-low-high-low way so that it will look much nicer. He had no choice but to abide her in order to escape from her high-pitched nagging, and there was no way she could do it herself since she ran out of stamina for the last few trees.

Despite that, she was right about it. White, blue, green, yellow and red lights shone together, showing off their colorful combination while complementing each other. The way it was hung made the trees looked as if the stars are sparkling on them. The entire Square was livened up with the resplendent color gave off by the light dials that are hung on the surrounding trees.

Tat- Tat- Tat!

"Well done!" Another elderly who was different from the previous one bounced slowly into the Square. His two branches clapping together making a slow and unenthusiastic clapping sound. "I can see that you guys really put in a lot of effort in doing this job! It must be an arduous experience for you. But don't worry; the next job is very simple!"

"What? There is another job?!" Perona asked in disbelief. She already felt terribly jaded after that entire Light Dial adjustment job. Right, maybe she really did ask for it herself.

"Well, well, there's still an hour before the real party starts so of course there's work! The rest of the Snowmen are also busy with their own stuffs! So come on now! Stand up and start working the next one!" The elder Snowman ushered them to stand up, meanwhile, many other snowmen started to move in, some setting up the stage using snow and so on. Even the Snow Cream pushcart was being dragged into the Square.

As soon as both the youngsters stood up, the elder snowman continued, "The second job requires you to deliver the party food to the square. However, before that, you will need to gather the food first! Look at the map again, go out of the town via the Northwest gate. There will be patches of snow there that taste very good! Just fill up this cart with the snow there using the shovel and bring it back. I will deal with these two boxes of light dials. Okay?"

"Huh?" Zoro tilted his head slightly, not taking in what the Snowman was saying.

"You mean… Snow?" Perona asked with askance, at the same time confirming the same question in Zoro's mind.

"Yes of course! Snow is the most delicious thing ever! Haven't you tried any?" The snowman exclaimed, bewildered at the fact that they have not tasted the Snow Island specialty yet. "Alright, anyway, you could snack on a little while gathering them, but not too much!" The snowman joked; cracked lines could be seen on his wrinkled face.

As the Snowman dragged the two boxes away, both the youngsters remained quiet. Mainly because they are unsure of what kind of reaction they should be giving.

"Are they seriously eating snow?!" Perona cried, making a fuss out of it, not that it is a small thing anyway.

"Who knows, let's go and take a look…" Zoro shrugged and started leading the way, pushing the cart. After a while, he then comes to a stop and looked back at Perona.

"Which way?"

"Are you actually admitting to me about your poor sense of direction?" Perona stared at Zoro with her big eyes, puzzled. She had never thought that Zoro would one day admit his weakness.

"No! I just forget which direction to head to!" Zoro blushed at the thought of it. He will never admit such things because he is confident of his sense of direction. It was just that he will need more time to reach a certain designated area than normal people will. Anyway, that was usually because he tried to find a shorter way, so it is not entirely his problem.

"North West." Perona chanted, wanting to see how the swordsman goes about finding his way. Zoro paused for a moment as if he was gaining his bearings, but let out a chuckle instead.

"Heh, you think I'm an idiot?" He smirked, he is not so easy to fool.

"Huh?" Perona was confused by his comment.

Zoro pointed a finger up the sky. "You have to fly to get to North, baka."

* * *

With Perona leading the way, the two youngsters successfully reached the North West gate without much trouble except for Perona faking her tears to pity the swordsman for his innate poor sense of direction.

As they walked out of the gate, they saw a wooden signboard that was placed nearby stating "Pure Snow". In front of them was a big land of snow, appearing whiter than usual snow. As far as they could see, the pure snow stretched across the horizon, it seems like there was an unlimited supply of pure snow.

Unlike the rough region that they passed by earlier in the morning, it was much calmer here and in the town. They could not hear the sound of the wind, and can only see soft snow swaying down from the sky, following a gentle rhythm.

"I think it's this patch of snow, from what the sign says," Perona floated towards the patch of snow. Comparing to normal snow, this snow looked much whiter, and appeared to have a finer texture.

Zoro nodded his head and pushed the cart nearer to the snow. He then used the shovel to transfer the pure snow into the cart. Meanwhile, Perona started to explore around.

"Oi, did you feel anything strange here?" Perona asked, hovering about the patch of pure snow, something is not right.

"Huh? What?" Zoro continued to dig heap and heap of snow into the cart. Thanks to his strength and the fact that the cart was not very big, he finished the job pretty fast.

"Like… I don't know… the atmosphere? Something is just not right, but… I don't know, just a feeling…" Perona murmured, trying to focus her attention on her surroundings.

Zoro stabbed the shovel on the snow and straightened his back. "Nope, I don't feel anything unusual. Come, let's go back."

Perona turned back and realized Zoro already finished his job. She shrugged, and decided to put that idea to the back of her mind, thinking it was just her imagination.

The youngsters then slowly walked back to the Square, but were approached by another Snowman as soon as they stepped into the Town.

"Hey! You!" A snowman bounced eagerly towards the two youngsters. The both of them looked at each other, startled at the sudden appearance of the snowman.

"I need you to set up the fireworks!" His branches reached out to Zoro and tugged at the hem of his winter coat weakly. "Only the humans are able to get near to heat, so I hope you could help and prepare the firework! We've already prepared everything necessary but we need you to light it." Seeing that tugging him did not help, the Snowman bounced behind Zoro and pushed him from the back. Zoro was slowly pushed forward and was forced to put down the cart.

"Look girl, you'll bring the things to the Square instead. Come boy, let's go!" The snowman ordered, and squeaked in excitement at the thought of having fireworks. Upon hearing that order, Perona face turned straight, she is not here to work.

"Wait, what?" Zoro was reluctant initially, but after looking at the changes in Perona face, he decided to play along with it.

"Thanks maid, I'll see you in a while," He showed off a triumphant smirk.

"Huh?! What. I'm not…" Perona glared at him with her big eyes, irritated by him leaving her alone to do all work. Especially when he called her, who supposed to be a Princess, a maid.

Unfortunately, Zoro and the snowman paid no attention to her as the snowman lead Zoro towards the North part of the town.

Perona stomped her feet angrily in the snow as she mumbled a few cursed words. Zoro caught her childish act at the corner of his eyes and cannot help but tease her a bit more.

"Oi!" Zoro stopped and turned around for a moment.

"What?! Stupid swordsman!"

"Remember not to topple the snow off!"

"You! Arghh!" Perona screamed in annoyance as the swordsman walked towards the snowman who had been waiting for him.

* * *

"Stupid, idiot, stupid, idiot, stupid, idiot, stupid, idiot, stupid, idiot…" Perona murmured under her breath as she floated around the town in search for a certain green hair swordsman.

_How could he, the servant, leave me, the princess behind to do the work?! I need to teach him some lessons!_ Perona thought to herself as she lowered herself onto the snow, she could not fly as long with her body right now. She wandered around the crowds of snowmen as she tried to figure out where that stupid swordsman is. After Perona delivered the food to the Square, the sky has already darkened, however, the thick clouds in the Winter Island covered up the pretty stars that used to decorate the black piece of velvet.

The Square was filled with more Snowmen now, together with tables filled with food, or rather snow dug by Zoro. A few vendors were placed along the sides, selling Snow creams and other native foods that are made of Snow. Cliques were formed, some looking around the vendors, some with their family, some having some eating contest and others just chit chatting. Perona felt so awkward, walking alone in the crowd, especially when she is the only human there. She was about to leave the Square but her ears caught something along other Snowmen's conversations.

"Ne…ne! I heard there will be fireworks tonight!" One of the snow women squeaked.

_Fireworks?_

"Really?! Finally! It's been so long since the previous firework show! It's been a while to have kind humans coming up here…" Another older snowman commented, indulging himself in the past wonderful experience.

_Hmm… If I recalled correctly, the snowman was blabbering about getting Zoro to light some fireworks. _

"You've seen a firework before?! I've never seen one before…" Another younger one shouted in excitement.

_Hmm… True, I did not see one before too._

"What?! You had never seen one before?! My! Let's go other places so that we can get a better view of the fireworks!" The older snowman suggested.

"Hey! I heard the fireworks will be shown on this side!" One of them shouted, pointing towards the dark sky. With that, the three snowmen urshered their way out of the crowd to look for other better places to get a nice view of the fire-works.

Perona's gaze followed the branches that are pointing towards the sky. From what the snowmen said, Zoro must be somewhere around there.

Perona started to float again and she flew towards the North side of the Town, leaving the Square. There are lesser and lesser people along the way and there seems to be no sign of Zoro. She started to feel stupid, why does she want to find him in the first place?

As she arrived at the North gate of the Town, she lowered herself down onto the snow and walked out of the Town. From the distance, she could see Zoro crouching down, fidgeting with something in his hands, a few boxes lying beside him.

"Oi! Stupid swordsman!" Perona trotted towards him while he raised his head upon her voice. Zoro raised his eyebrow but lowered his head again to work with what he was working on a moment ago.

"What are you doing?" Perona asked, crouching lower to observe him.

"Figuring out how to light this," He answered, his gaze focused on the fireworks.

"It will be nicer to see the fireworks from here since you're lighting it here, right?" Perona tilted her head, asking in a child-liked tone.

"It's better to enjoy fireworks from afar."

"Oh."

"You can go to the mountain there to watch," He raised his chin slightly, pointing towards where the mountain is.

"Oh."

After a few moments, Zoro can still feel Perona's presence beside him. He then looked up at her, she was squatting down on the snow, her arms hugging her knees as she looked intensively at what Zoro is doing. "Tsk, what?"

"What what?" She asked back innocently with her big round eyes.

"I mean why are you still here?" Zoro grunted in annoyance.

"…" She kept quiet, her lips pressed together into a thin line.

"Tsk. Oi. What the hell you want?"

"It's no fun watching alone," this time pouting. "I'll just watch here," Perona announced, changing her position as she sat comfortably in the snow, raising her head up towards the sky. "Oi slave, hurry up."

"Tsk. Troublesome woman." Zoro grumbled under his breath as he started to light the fireworks.

One by one, the fireworks were shot into the sky. One after another, the fireworks continued to light up the dark sky, giving surprises as different colors popping out. The fireworks that shot onto the dark sky exploded, giving off a flower-liked shape, putting up a beautiful performance for the Snowmen.

Since Perona was so near the fireworks, she was shocked when it was first fired up into the sky due to the loud sound. However, shortly later, Perona got used to it and covered her ears with her hand tightly, her gaze glued onto the night sky. She knew fireworks are beautiful, but she did not expect it to be that beautiful. It was amazing for her as it was her first time looking at fireworks. Some of them lasted longer than the others, some louder, some with different colors, and some going in different directions. A few fireworks were shot together at once into the sky, exploding together, lighting the sky up even more brightly. Pink, Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, the colors covered the entire sky for a mere few seconds, but was enough to take one's breathe away.

She was so enraptured by the fireworks that she was shocked when a strong arm suddenly hurled her up, pulling her as it dragged her away.

"Wait! What the hell?!" She screamed at Zoro, "What are you doing?"

Zoro ignored her as he ran as fast as he could, his hands holding on tightly to Perona's, dragging her behind him. Perona tried her best to keep up with his speed, at the same time raising her head to look at the fireworks; she does not want to waste such a special show.

Suddenly, Zoro comes to a stop, she almost knocked into him but his firm hands placed on her shoulder to stop her momentum. He then turned her shoulder around, forcing her to face the front instead of him. It was then she realized what he was trying to do.

Just at that moment, the last firework erupted in the sky, decorating the sky with one last performance as it flew in different direction.

"I left the longest firework to the last one," He explained.

"Thank you," She blushed, turning around to look at him, calming her breath due to the running.

Their gaze met. Zoro surprised at what he actually did for her, and Perona surprised at the fact that she actually likes it a lot, even the running part. Both of them slowly looked down, and realized they are still holding hands. Almost at the same time, the both of them took their hands back.

_Wait! Does she have to react that way? _Zoro thought in his mind, not that he wanted to keep holding her hand.

_What's wrong with him, reacting that way! _Perona cried in her mind, well, not that she wanted to hold his hand anyway either.

The both of them kept silence while facing each other. There was an awkward silence but was thankfully, or not, interrupted.

"Well done!" Three elder Snowmen bounced towards them. "Thanks so much for helping us, it was one of the best White Christmas we ever have!" One of them exclaimed, the other two helped to clean up the area.

"Oi! So did you found any information from the Library?" Perona, the first to recover from the small incident, asked.

"Ah, of course! Of course!" The Snowman answered, "We found a piece of paper there that is related to the location of the wine, but it's pretty late now. So you should rest for the night first." A piece of paper appeared out of nowhere from the Snowman's branches, he waved it gently, passing it to the Ghost Princess.

"This is…" Perona studied the paper, asking the Snowman under her breath.

"Ah, this, you have to find out yourself. I'll give you more information tomorrow, just rest for now." The Snowman turned towards the other two Snowmen who have been cleaning up the area. "Let's go guys!"

The two youngsters nodded and greeted them good night; the both of them strolled back to the Igloo together.

"So what's on the piece of paper?" Zoro asked, breaking the silence between them.

Perona flipped open the piece of paper again, reading the content aloud.

"The Cloud of Mist that leads to Heaven, the Ring of Snow that leads to Hell.

Wine of blood that tastes of tears, Mist of feelings that smells of blood, reveal the veil that sense of danger.

Lies of the snow to be believed, truth of the wind to be accepted, the wind was howling yet again.

Here lies the guilt of a man, deep in the furrows of the sea."

"What…?" The words danced in Zoro's mind for a while, and disappeared into thin air. "I don't get it."

"Neither do I. Anyway, let's just rest for now, the Snowman said he will give us more information the next morning." Perona folded the paper in two and kept it safely in her pocket.

Under the Night sky, the two youngsters strolled back to the Igloo, both of them taking a corner each as they rest for the challenges that lie ahead.


	15. Chapter 15

**Previously, Zoro and Perona helped out in the White Christmas, and finally gotten a piece of hint from the Snowmen there. **

**"So what's on the piece of paper?" Zoro asked, breaking the silence between them.**

**Perona flipped open the piece of paper again, reading the content aloud.**

**"The Cloud of Mist that leads to Heaven, the Ring of Snow that leads to Hell.**

**Wine of blood that tastes of tears, Mist of feelings that smells of blood, reveal the veil that sense of danger.**

**Lies of the snow to be believed, truth of the wind to be accepted, the wind was howling yet again.**

**Here lies the guilt of a man, deep in the furrows of the sea."**

**"What…?" The words danced in Zoro's mind for a while, and disappeared into thin air. "I don't get it."**

**"Neither do I. Anyway, let's just rest for now, the Snowman said he will give us more information the next morning." Perona folded the paper in two and kept it safely in her pocket.**

**Under the Night sky, the two youngsters strolled back to the Igloo, both of them taking a corner each as they rest for the challenges that lie ahead. **

* * *

**Chapter 15 – Their First Mission Part 3**

"Oi, wake up," A rough voice called out.

"Ugh… Kumashi…" Another soft voice groaned with a hint of sleepiness, a small hand waved in the air, trying to get rid of the other voice that have been attempting to wake her up since 30 minutes ago.

"Oi!" A big and calloused hand moved to her shoulder, shaking her slightly, trying to wake the person up.

"Kumashi!" Even in a sleeping state, the Princess continued to use her high-pitched voice to warn her servant not to disturb her sleep. A hint of annoyance was found in her voice as she kicked her legs in frustration. She turned around, her back facing the "servant", her pink hair flared out behind her, resting peacefully on the pillow.

"Oi…" It has been half an hour since he tried waking this Princess up. It was not that had failed waking her up; it is just that he did not resort to violence. If he did, everything will be simple. "Oi!" He shouted this time, using a harsher tone, his strong hands shook her shoulder vigorously, shaking her out of her deep sleep.

"What?!" She jerked up suddenly, the force pushing away the strong hands away. Her hand running through her hair as she ruffled them in annoyance. She stared at Zoro with hatred in her eyes as her head suddenly dropped down in exaggeration. Her pink hair was in a mess but was spread across her shoulders with beautiful curls.

"Tsk, if you continue to sleep, I'll just go off without you," Zoro threatened, slowly turning away from her, heading towards the door of the Igloo.

"Wait," He felt a tug at the hem of his winter coat, he almost smirked inwardly, but he was not done yet, according to the Princess' attitude, he will still need to coax her out of bed.

"Hurry up, it's already morning."

Perona slowly raised her head to look at Zoro, her sleepy eyes showed that she was still in a daze. She sat up and stretched her hands up towards Zoro.

"What?" He looked deadpan at her outstretched hand.

"Help me up, slave." She ordered with an indifferent tone.

"Huh?"

"What are you doing there? Hurry up and help me up!" She yawned, showing her indifferent attitude.

"Tsk," He would love to leave her there, but he knows if he wants to find the item as fast as possible, he will definitely need her help. He held on to her hand and pulled her up, he then proceeds to drag her towards the door.

Before opening the door, he turned towards her and adjusted her winter coat properly, making sure it provide full protection against the bleak weather outside. Perona continued to rub her eyes as she tried to chase away the drowsiness, she could feel Zoro adjusting the collar of her winter coat, and assisting her to put the gloves. For that moment, it felt like she was a daughter, and Zoro was the Father.

"Morning…" She greeted, just like any daughter would do to their Father.

Zoro raised his eyebrow as he looked at her. _Is that how Perona is like in the morning?_ "Uhm, Morning." He replied. After making sure everything is ready, he dragged Perona out of the Igloo.

"Where's the paper?" Zoro asked.

"Here," She took out a piece of paper given by the Elderly gave yesterday. "We should go see them, they said they'll provide us some help." She yawned again, her eyes watered with it. "What's the time now?"

"No idea," Zoro replied, pulling her hand and dragged her towards any direction his intuition says. "But we've only slept for a few hours, I guess."

"Hmm… No wonder I'm feeling so tired. I need 8 hours of sleep a day," She continued to let him drag along. "By the way do you know where you are heading?"

"No ide-"

"Ah, I figured that much," Perona stopped walking towards the direction Zoro is leading, and in turn dragged him along with the opposite charge.

"Where are the Elderly?"

"Probably in Town."

"Shouldn't we walk there inste-"

"Shut up and follow me, I have no mood to tend to your crazy directions in the morning."

* * *

"The Cloud of Mist, the Ring of Snow…" The Mayor bounced slowly on the snow. "Well… I suppose you are supposed to choose where to go. Heaven or Hell." The two youngsters found the Mayor in the middle of the Town, and they proceed to ask him about the piece of paper.

"Heaven or Hell?" Perona echoed.

"In this Winter Island, we are known for these two distinct places. The Cloud of Mist meant the Peak of the Mountain. The Mountain is behind you two when Mr. Human set off the firework. The Ring of Snow refers to the Pure Snow region where Mr. Human dug the Snow for the feast." The Mayor explained, then tilted his head to look at the two youngsters. "So where will you go?"

"Huh? What do you mean where..?" Perona asked.

"You're supposed to find the hiding spot of the Wine with this piece of paper, the words there are hints!" The Mayor looked at her in surprise, as though expecting her to at least know that much. "I can only help you this much."

"So we're supposed to choose where to go, Hell or Heaven..." Perona murmured as she looked at the piece of paper in her hand. "The Cloud of Mist that leads to Heaven, the Ring of Snow that leads to Hell. This means that the Peak of the Mountain leads to Heaven, the Pure Snow region leads to Hell…"

This information processed in both the youngster's brain for a while, thinking where they should go.

"Of course Heaven!"

"Of course Hell!"

"Heaven is much safer! Much much safer!" Perona pointed out the obvious, or not.

"The man is definitely at Hell, I'll just go there and cut him and we're done!" He suggested with full confidence.

"But it's Hell! Hello? Hell!"

"It's better. Come, let's go," Zoro announced his final decision, "Which way to Hell?" He glowered at the Mayor, he can feel adrenaline already pumping through his blood upon the fact that a fight is finally lifting. He almost bored to death especially he has nothing to do, except to comply with the wishes of the Snowmen and the Princess.

"Nooo! Let's go to the Peak!" Zoro started to drag Perona across the Snow, towards the direction the Mayor is pointing. "Wait!"

"What? Let's get this over as fast as possible ok?"

"Look. We already went to the Pure Snow. Do you think anything interesting or exciting will happen there? We've never been to the Mountain, I find the place there much more suspicious!" Perona tried to reason with Zoro, with his thick skull, it would be easy.

"Hmm, but it's not Hell."

"It's a trick! Come on, let's go to the Mountain's Peak!" Perona shrieked, somewhat amazed by herself. What she said was so convincing that all of a sudden, she felt like going to "Hell" instead.

While Zoro pondered to himself, Perona dragged him towards another direction, towards the Cloud of Mist, the Heaven.

* * *

Perona and Zoro ventured towards the Mountain. It appeared much bigger than yesterday because they were able to look at it clearly now. The two youngsters stood there, looking up at the mountain. The view was blurry, they could not catch the submit due to the height, and there was Mist clouding on the top. Perona and Zoro started to venture up, towards the peak.

"Why do I feel like the Mist at the top is a little bit pinkish?" Perona asked as she scrutinized the Mist at the Peak.

"It's just you," Zoro answered, not even bothering to look up at the Peak.

"No… Really… Ah, forget it," Perona groaned as she kept her head down, protecting her face from the harsh wind.

After an hour of lumbering through the snow and listening to her preposterous and inconsequential complains, they have finally arrived at the Peak of the heap.

"Why the hell did I even suggest coming here…" Perona cursed under her breath, regretting her stubborn attitude a while ago. She looked around at the top of the mountain. There was no breathtaking scenery, but was unfortunately, the dreary vista of endless whiteness.

On the other hand, Zoro was getting excited for all these. "Heh, this looks like some interesting place. I wonder where my opponent is." Perona ignored him as she tried to hug herself tighter; the temperature had started to sink when they reach the Peak.

Just like what Perona suggested earlier, the Mist here was heavy as cloud, and it was tainted pink in color. In fact, it had a color of blood red, but with all the clouds in the sky, it appeared to be lighter, in a shade of pink. Perona would love to boast about her observation skills but the weather was too cold for her to make out any unnecessary talking, she wanted to preserve her energy for something much more significant.

Not long after that, they came across a Sign Board that states "The Peak". Zoro ignored it and went to the edge of it, looking around to sense for any opponents. Meanwhile, Perona lowered herself down to examine the Sign Board. Below the large letters that indicate that they have progressed to the destinations, there are smaller letter carved onto the wooden board.

"Remember our promise that if ever one of us died, we will bring the other half's blood and complete the dream to make the best wine in the world. I took yours, and now I am dying of guilt." Perona read out from the Board.

"Huh? What are you saying?" Zoro turned around to see her half squatting near the Sign Board. He was unable to sense anything from his Haki, and walked towards Perona instead.

"This…" She pointed at the Sign Board. A snow dropped onto her lips as she licked away the snow with her tongue.

"Promise. Blood. I took yours. And now I am dying of guilt," Zoro echoed the salient points of the sentences. "So this person killed the person and took the blood? What kind of psychos is he?"

"No. That person died! So this person took that person's blood! It was part of a promise." Perona corrected him, her tongue continued to moisturize her dried and chapped lips. "By the way, the Snow taste… weird."

"Snow?" He asked as he stood up straight again, feeling disappointed that there are nothing interesting around here. "Ugh… Anyway, where are the wine, and the opponent?"

Perona took out the piece of paper that contains the hint to find the wine. "Wine of blood that tastes of tears, Mist of feelings that smells of blood, reveal the veil that sense of danger." She read the second line out.

"Taste of tears…" Perona mused for a moment as she tried to digest the meaning of the sentences. "Yes! Tears! Oi Baka! Taste the snow!" Perona shouted, relishing the fact that she discovered something. She stretched out her finger to catch a falling snow and placed them in front of Zoro, proffering to him.

"Taste the Snow? Why would I do something stupid as tha-" Zoro was about to eiminate the stupid idea but Perona was quick to shove her fingers into his mouth with snow on it.

"Oi! Baka!" He tried to complain, but was met with Perona's serious gaze. He then savored the taste of the snow in his mouth, his eyebrow heightened into a higher level every time he felt the resemblance of the snow to tears.

"See?!" For that brief moment, excitement overtook Perona as she forgotten about the cold. Her big round eyes stared at Zoro, waiting for his agreement.

Zoro nodded. "So the Wine of blood that tastes of tears refers to the Snow here?"

"I think the Wine of Blood refers to the line on the Sign Board instead, remember?" Perona reminded him, pointing towards the Sign Board again. "Maybe the reason the person took the dead person's blood is to use it to make wine? Hence the phrase, Wine of Blood?" She asked, slowly placing the pieces together.

"Then taste of tears because of guilt? Other than that, what about the Mist of Feelings that smells of blood?" Zoro asked with no enthusiasm, obviously not very interested in this entire story thing.

"Mist, feelings, blood." She repeated. "This phrase will probably explain why the Mist is pink."

"Pink Mist… What about the last line? Reveal the veil that sense of danger." Zoro asked again, it was interesting to find out that Perona can be quite clever at times, provided that they are heading the right direction with her answers, not that it matters a lot.

"I…" Perona tried to come up with something but was interrupted by the sudden change in atmosphere. "What happened?" She asked in alarm as she moved closer to Zoro for protection.

Slowly, the pink colored mist around them started to clear. As if on instinct, Perona looked up at the sky, the Pink Mist slowly dissolved away together with the clouds, revealing the open sky that is normally hidden beneath the dense cloud and mist, or not.

"Reveal the veil that sense of danger… Don't tell me…" Perona murmured to herself under the breath as an inexorable sense of foreboding swept over her. Her eyes stared wide with shock when she realized what was hiding behind the dense mist. From a far, dark red drops of objects started to fly down towards them, the red object was large enough to crush them together with the mountain.

Perona started to scream, she tugged eagerly at Zoro's winter coat, as if wanting him to do something immediately to save them both. However, Zoro remained calm as usual despite the red object flying down, he did not even bother to unsheathe his katana.

"Zoro!" Perona started to drag Zoro away, wanting to escape from the landing objects, or at least get away as far as possible to avert a direct hit.

"Stop!" Zoro ordered, he tried to calm her down but to no avail, Perona started to float as she used her body weight to push Zoro forward. Zoro tried to hold Perona down but she was too anxious to be stop. "Perona! Calm down! It's just an illusion!"

With his arms free and trying to keep the struggling Perona to calm down, he lost his balance as he tripped over and fell. Perona on the other hand, lost the momentum when she was struggling with Zoro and fell over, sliding down the precipitous slope.

"Oi! Perona!" Zoro tried to grab her hands but failed, he followed suit by rolling down the dangerously steep slope, outstretching his hand to try to grab Perona at the same time.

Perona eyes squeezed shut, she wanted to scream, but the quick dizziness she felt muffled her voice. As far as she knows, a warm and protective pair of arms soon found their way to wrap around her frail body, protecting her from any further danger and injuries.

* * *

Thanks all for reviewing this story! :)

And becket.. Yes I agree! They should just trip and fall over one another, and maybe an accidental kiss would be better, kekeke :P

Anyway, aha, the last part is for you, see! They tripped! :P


	16. Chapter 16

**Previously:**

**Perona started to scream, she tugged eagerly at Zoro's winter coat, as if wanting him to do something immediately to save them both. However, Zoro remained calm as usual despite the red object flying down, he did not even bother to unsheathe his katana.**

**"Zoro!" Perona started to drag Zoro away, wanting to escape from the landing objects, or at least get away as far as possible to avert a direct hit.**

**"Stop!" Zoro ordered, he tried to calm her down but to no avail, Perona started to float as she used her body weight to push Zoro forward. Zoro tried to hold Perona down but she was too anxious to be stop. "Perona! Calm down! It's just an illusion!"**

**With his arms free and trying to keep the struggling Perona to calm down, he lost his balance as he tripped over and fell. Perona on the other hand, lost the momentum when she was struggling with Zoro and fell over, sliding down the precipitous slope.**

**"Oi! Perona!" Zoro tried to grab her hands but failed, he followed suit by rolling down the dangerously steep slope, outstretching his hand to try to grab Perona at the same time.**

**Perona eyes squeezed shut, she wanted to scream, but the quick dizziness she felt muffled her voice. As far as she knows, a warm and protective pair of arms soon found their way to wrap around her frail body, protecting her from any further danger and injuries. **

* * *

Chapter 16 - Their First Mission Part 4

"Oi baka…" A deep low voice called out to the girl lying harmlessly on his chest, but for some reason, was unconscious. A big hand pushed the girl's head against his chest, protecting the vital part of her body, while another was placed on her waist, securing her to himself.

He withdrew his hand to push himself up while his other hand shifted position to her shoulder to secure her to himself. "Oi."

"Uhmm…" She let out a softened tone, her eyelids moved slightly as she slowly gained conscious from the incident they experienced together a moment ago. Zoro unknowingly heaved a sigh of relief as Perona started to push herself away from his chest, regaining conscious.

"Baka Kenshi," Perona muttered softly as she woke up. She looked around her and realized they are no longer at the Peak, in fact, she could safely assume that they are at the bottom of the Mountain. She was half lying between Zoro, lying against his chest for support. She looked up and saw Zoro looking at her with a worrisome face, reminding her of what just happened.

"Ah! The mist! The-" Perona shouted, but a hand covered her mouth to silence her. She frowned slightly, she glared hard at Zoro, asking him for the reason.

"It's just an illusion…" Zoro replied, she tilted her head slightly, as though asking why.

"It said reveal the veil, which means the red objects that seem to be falling down are there all along, just hiding behind the mist. If it's always behind, then why doesn't it drop in the first place?" He explained, slowly withdrawing the hand from her mouth.

"Meaning… It's fake, it's an illusion? Eh?!" Perona shrieked, exaggerating it with her big eyes staring wide with shock.

"Yeah. On top of that, I didn't sense anything with my Haki. If an entire sky of meteor-liked object is to crash down, I'm pretty sure I can sense that easily even though I'm not very skilled in using Haki yet." Zoro explained further, ignoring her exaggerated expression, he was already used to it. "Come, let's go."

Perona nodded as she tried to get up with Zoro helping her. They stood up and patted the snow away from their winter coat and Perona smoothing the edges of her dress. When she is ready, she jerked her head up to face Zoro, contemplating if she should thank him.

Zoro was about to step away as Perona tugged his winter coat sleeve to stop him. He turned around and looked at Perona, who is at his chest level.

"Hmm… Thanks for just now," Perona thanked him quickly; she can slowly feel heat creeping onto her face, which she definitely welcome with both hands due to the cold weather. However, she kept her face down in embarrassment.

"Oh, uhm, no problem," Zoro wanted to tease her, but he simply feels that this is not the proper time. A sense of awkwardness suddenly crept in as he realized how close they are standing to each other. "Are you hurt?" He tried to say something to lighten the mood, but realize he was only making it worse.

Perona looked up when he asked the question, she realized a light tint of pink on Zoro's cheek, which make her feel happy she was not the only one feeling embarrassed. However, why is he feeling embarrassed? She was the one saying 'Thank you'. She stared at Zoro trying to figure out the answer, forgetting to answer his question.

"Oi… So you're hurt?" He asked with a frown on his serious face, as though it will be his fault if she was injured.

"Uh no, I didn't get hu- Ah choo!" She sneezed while she pulled a distance away from Zoro.

Zoro looked at her with a worrisome face, "Are you ok?" A little disappointed as she left a bigger gap between them, he could not feel her body temperature near him anymore.

"Of course I'm not ok, look at the freaking weather here…" Perona muttered quickly with her leather-liked lips. "Let's just continue and leave this place as fast as possible." Perona leads the way, moving away from the Mountain. Zoro quickened his steps to catch up to her as he agreed inwardly. He is not a doctor; there was nothing he could do except for completing the mission as fast as possible.

The two youngsters continued to walk in the snow. The wind was getting stronger and stronger as they reached another new area. Not long afterward, another wooden signboard was found nearby. The both of them went over there to look at the signboard. The word 'Pure Snow' was carved onto the board.

"Pure Snow? Doesn't that mean that we're at the Ring of Snow, the Hell?" Zoro asked first.

"I guess so, but the weather here is so different from the one from yesterday, the Pure Snow region there was much calmer, and give off a tranquil feeling." Perona pointed out as she continued to look at the smaller words carved below the 'Pure Snow'.

"I should have trusted you that won't betray me, especially when you're as pure as this patch of snow." She read out from the signboard and looked at Zoro. He does not look concern regarding the sentences they saw. "Do you think this is somehow linked to the first sentence we saw at the Peak?"

"I don't know, if so how?"

"I'm not sure either. Apparently there must be some misunderstanding?" Perona mused for a moment. "The first one is about the promise if ever of the person died; the other will bring the other's blood to complete the dream to make the best wine in the world. Apparently this person took the dead friend's blood, and now this person is very guilty of it." She recalled.

"I don't understand why that person is guilty. A promise is a promise." Zoro stated his point of view.

"That two person might be a couple! Can you imagine yourself slitting your lover's throat and drain the blood out? Even if you are not the one who killed her in the first place." Perona asked.

"Hmm…" Zoro tried to find an answer to the question.

"Well, it did sound romantic and interes-"

"Oi oi, are you a psycho?" Zoro interrupted her.

"Oh well… We don't know the full story. Let's go." Perona continued to lead the way with Zoro following closely behind her.

After a few minutes of walking, something suddenly rang in Zoro's mind. "Oh, I just remembered. What is the third line about?"

Perona suddenly remembered about the hint from the paper and took it out immediately. The wind blowing behind her, hitting the back of her head and the piece of paper. Perona clutched it tightly and tried to shield it against the wind. Suddenly soft snow started to hit her again, she shook her head in annoyance as she cursed slightly at the snow.

Suddenly, realization struck her. She came to a halt. Zoro moved in front of her, wanting to ask what happen.

Perona looked up at him. "Oi baka kenshi. Did you realize?"

"What…?" Slightly unhappy that his old nickname was back.

"The snow and the wind… are going in different direction!" Perona cried in recognition. Zoro raised his brow as he wondered how that could happen. He paused for a moment, trying to feel his surroundings. The wind was rushing behind him, pushing him forward, almost toppling him over if not for his strength. On the other hand, the snow was swaying in the opposite direction, defying logic.

"The wind is the one controlling the direction of the snow. So when the snow blows a certain direction, the snow should follow it," Perona explained. Zoro nodded his head in agreement.

"Leave it, this is the Grand Line," Zoro brushed it off lazily as he kept walking, it was not that he does not care about it, but there was no logic in the Grand Line.

"Oi! Wait!" Perona shouted as she hurried her steps to follow him. She quickly followed behind him while smoothing out the piece of paper on her hand, reading the content out. "Lies of the snow to be believed, truth of the wind to be accepted, the wind was howling yet again."

"Wait, Baka Kenshi! I think this line has something to do with the wind and snow going different direction!" Perona cried out to him, getting his attention so he stopped moving, and turned around to look at her instead.

"Huh?"

"The lies of snow, the truth of wind. Doesn't that mean that we should follow the wind instead of the snow, which are lies, and will probably lead us to other places?" Perona reasoned.

"Hmm…" Zoro mused for a moment.

"Argh, just follow me. I have no time for this information to get through your thick skull," She quipped as she dragged Zoro along, to where the wind led them.

* * *

"I wonder what does the last line, 'the wind was howling yet again' means…" Perona murmured under her breath, but Zoro was close enough to hear her despite the deafening wind. They have ventured along with the wind for quite some time and the wind was getting stronger and stronger as they pass by and Perona tried to walk closer with Zoro to get some of his body heat.

"We'll find out soon, if this is another hint to where the wine is at…" Zoro assured her.

After a moment of lumbering through the thick snow, they saw a signboard again. On the signboard, the words 'Pure Snow' were printed on it, indicating that they were still in the Pure Snow region. At the bottom, smaller letters were carved onto it just like the other signboards they saw previously.

"The truth is ringing so loudly, but can I continue to act ignorant about it?" Perona read it out while tugging at Zoro's sleeve. "I think all these sentences are linked."

"How?" He asked.

"The first sentence was about fulfilling the promise and taking the blood, yet guilty. The second was about not trusting this other person and thinking that that person betrayed him. The third and current one was about the truth, and this person is trying to ignore it…" She stated her point of view. "If you piece them together into a story, it's probably about some misunderstanding. A certain person thought his friend betrayed him, and when that friend died, he took that person's blood, and he is quite guilty for that. However, the truth is that the friend didn't betray him." Perona analyzed.

"Why is he feeling guilty about it? A promise is a promise." Zoro questioned her conclusion. "And, since when are you a detective?"

"Like I said, are you heartless? Despite the promise, I am sure he will feel sad to drain the blood out from his friend, especially it is a very important friend, or even his lover!" Perona tried to get things through the swordsman's thick skull.

"Then… Does he know the truth?" He asked again, the both of them starting to move forward.

"Hmm… I don't know. Lies of the snow to be believed, truth of the wind to be accepted, the wind was howling yet again." Perona repeated.

"Wind. Howling. Again." Zoro echoed the few keywords from the sentence.

"Truth is ringing so loudly…" Perona joined in. "I know!"

"What?"

"The truth is the wind!" Perona exclaimed.

"So?"

"The person already knows the truth!" Perona stated.

"How do you know that?" Zoro asked.

"The wind was howling yet again. If you replace the word 'wind' to 'truth'. It means the truth was howling yet again. In other words, he has always known the truth all along! If you compare to the sentence 'The truth is ringing so loudly, but can I continue to act ignorant about it,' it will all make sense!" She tried to explain, looking at Zoro, tilting her head as if to ask if he understood what she meant.

"So… Lies of the snow to be believed, truth of the wind to be accepted. So all along he is trying to act ignorant and not want to accept the truth?"

"Yes, baka kenshi, you finally got it," she sighed deeply as she rubbed her forehead, her eyebrow furrowed at the uncomfortable incessant ringing in her head.

"If you're not feeling well just say…"

"I'm not, shut up and follow me!"

* * *

The both of them toiled painfully along the snow, Perona feeling more and more uncomfortable by the minute, the long journey and the bleak weather were not helping in the least.

"Are you feeling alright?" Zoro asked.

"A Princess does not get sick," She talked back, but her constant coughing and sneezing says otherwise. Zoro remained quiet at her comment but make a mental note to end this mission as fast as possible.

The weather was changing, the wind was blowing harder and stronger. Both the wind and snow are going in the same direction, suggesting that they have left the Pure Snow Region.

"Are we walking in the right direction?" Zoro asked, looking at his surroundings. "For some reason, this place looks quite similar to the place when we have just arrived to this island."

Hard to believe, but Perona agreed with Zoro.

"We're most likely in the right direction since the wind leads us here, which is probably the next destination. The last line states 'Here lies the guilt of a man, deep in the furrows of the sea.'" Perona read out from the content again, trying to think what is the last sentence trying to say.

"It's the last line already?" Zoro asked.

"Mmm," A soft sound escaped her lips as she nodded weakly. "According to previous experience, the weather will somehow be connected to the sentence, the mist, the wind, and the snow. However, I don't really understand this part…" Her brows furrowed again. Suddenly, a huge hand started to pat her head.

"It's fine, you don't have to think anymore. I'll complete the last line. It wrote 'man' there, so I'll probably meet the opponent soon," Zoro placed a hand on top of her head, patting her head softly as though praising a little kid. He had no idea why he suddenly has the urge of doing that, but as far as he knows, he would still be lost somewhere without Perona's help.

"What… You think I'm a kid?" She pouted slightly like a kid, keeping her head down to hide her blush at the same time.

"No, I-" Zoro tried to change the topic but was interrupted by the sudden movement, it was faint, but he could almost sense something with his Haki. Within a second, he pushed the clueless Perona away, unsheathing his two katana, blocking the upcoming fatal attack.

* * *

**Thanks for the Review! ^^ In case you're wondering why suddenly my upload speed is so fast, it's because there will be a Halloween Plot afterwards in this Story, and I really want to publish it on time with Halloween! ;P**

**Writing Halloween for the Ghost Princess is going to be so fun, let's all look forward to it! ^^ **


	17. Chapter 17

**Previously:**

**"No, I-" Zoro tried to change the topic but was interrupted by the sudden movement, it was faint, but he could almost sense something with his Haki. Within a second, he pushed the clueless Perona away, unsheathing his two katana, blocking the upcoming fatal attack.**

* * *

**Chapter 17 – Their First Mission Part 5**

"That stupid swordsman…" Perona murmured softly as she lay uncomfortably in the deep snow. Her gloves-wrapped hand slowly crept up, pushing herself upwards slowly. While she tried to move into a comfortable position, a strong current of air hit her hard, accompanying with a sudden wave of giddiness that attacked her due to her sudden shift in position. She crouched down immediately, shutting her eyes, hoping that it will ease the giddiness, preferably together with the searing headache she have been experiencing.

She could hear sounds from above her. She looked up slightly; she was at the bottom of a slope now. She recalled her memories. Zoro had pushed her away just a while ago, making her tumbling down the slope. She started to pout slightly, wanting to shout at him asking if this is how he supposed to treat a Princess. She was, however, startled by Zoro's shoutings instead.

"Oi, Perona! Run!" Zoro's voice was muffled along the strong wind, but nevertheless, was able to reach Perona. She jerked her head up immediately to catch a gang of snowmen bouncing fiercely towards her, even without Haki, she could feel their murderous killing intent.

The Snowmen, with the assistance of the descending slope, bounced down in a rapid speed. Behind them, Zoro was fighting at the top of the slope with another man.

She rolled to the side with her crouching position and hurriedly helped herself up, brushing off the waves of giddiness that refused to subside. She held her hand out, producing mini hollows at the palm of her hand, then slapped them towards the group of Snowmen bouncing towards her. The Snowmen looked nothing like the bunch of Snowmen in town, they were now wearing a devil look on their faces, the snow on their face cracked slightly with devil-looking grin on their face. Their branches which was their hand were replaced with threatening sharp long knives.

"Ghost Rap!" The first few Snowmen charging at the front burst in contact with the mini hollow sent out by Perona, but the snow that fallen on the ground slowly gathered together, forming the shape of another army of Snowmen.

This immediately reminds Perona of the army of Zombies back in Thriller Bark, she cursed under her breath as she thinks of her next step. _There must be a devil fruit user behind this, which most probably is the guy that Zoro is supposed to defeat. If that is the case… _She mused slightly for a moment, there are no salt here, and it is too far from the Town, hell, there will most probably be snow salt than real salt that can threaten against Devil Fruit user.

"Negative Hollow!" While she sent out two apparitions from her palm to face the Snowmen, Perona ran away as fast as possible. Her big eyes scanned the area, hoping to look for something that could help in her current situation. Slowly, the two apparitions returned to her after completing their mission. They managed to pull a long distance between the Snowmen and Perona. They flew alongside Perona as Perona gave her next command.

"Look for a way to reach that green hair idiot without facing those Snowmen. Quick!" The giddiness was now replaced by an intense headache.

The two apparitions floated up quickly, going in opposite direction, Perona stopped for a moment, looking around to check for any Snowmen. It looks like they have lost her.

An apparition flew back down, his body swaying together with it's hand towards a single direction.

"There's something there?" Perona asked, and was answered by the apparition nodding furiously.

"Is it the green hair idiot?" She started to trot towards the direction the hollow was pointing, while the hollow flew beside her. She turned around to look at the it, expecting a nod, but was greeted with it shaking its head.

"Huh? Then what is there?" The apparition answered by drawing a circle with its hand, then doing a swimming pose.

"Sea?" She was answered with an exaggerated nod. "That means this is really the place where we first arrived earlier." She continued running, if it was the sea, then she would have a weapon against the group of Snowmen. Soon, the other ghost also returned, flying in front of Perona, it started to make funny pose.

It frowned deeply, the hand held out, slashing at the air aimlessly.

"Uh huh, that baka kenshi."

It nodded slightly and changed the pose, it drew a big circle with both hand and started to do shadow punching in the air. "Fighting with a big guy?"

The apparition nodded. "Leave him, let's go and find the ship first, and it will be much safer at the sea, it's easier to defeat those devil fruit user." The two apparitions looked at each other as they propped their shoulder up and shook their head, as though saying, "Aren't you a Devil Fruit user too?"

* * *

"You?" Zoro asked, his gaze followed every action of the man standing in front of him closely. He was a sturdy looking man, even though not as well built as Zoro. His face was carved with distinct features; however, his thick dark hair flecked with grey suggested that he was in his late forties. He stood at an angle facing Zoro, his leg spread apart slightly in a battle stance.

There were cracked lines around the snow that were wrapped around his hand, indicating that he was using his hand to attack Zoro just a few seconds ago.

"I'm Andy. You're the one Mihawk sent?" He answered back with a question, but at the same time, answering Zoro's question. The man in front of him was indeed the man he needed to face for this mission.

"Roronoa Zoro. If I defeat you, I'll get the wine, right?" His eyes narrowed, focusing his gaze on his opponent. Putting Wado Ichimonji in his mouth, he unsheathed his third katana.

"Heh, looks like Mihawk have a lot of confidence in you," He laughed. "Well, good job getting here anyway." He joked, but his gaze fixated on Zoro.

"Oh? Mihawk didn't tell me I'm fighting against someone who likes to talk so much," Zoro continued while he analyzed him. From his attack just now, he must be a devil fruit user, most likely relating to Snow. Adding on with his physical strength, he might be a challenging opponent.

Andy closed his eyes slightly, "Oh, and that girl whose running about aimlessly in the snow."

_Haki? _This man definitely proved to be a challenging opponent then. Zoro smirked, undaunted by his opponent's capabilities.

"Ah, fine. They will deal with her anyway. For now, let's start," He stared at Zoro, his fist starting to turn white as though it was made of snow.

Zoro flinched for a second. _She should be able to deal with the "they". _He furrowed his brows as he tried to concentrate.

_She's sick. _Memories of her coughing and having headache started to flash by. He positioned himself in his Santouryuu's stance.

_She have trained enough for that few weeks, she can manage it. _Andy started to charge towards him, a few layers of snow thickened around his fist. Zoro cleared his thoughts immediately, charging forward, he used his katana to meet his punches.

_I'll just have to finish him first._

* * *

"The Cloud of Mist that leads to Heaven, the Ring of Snow that leads to Hell.

Wine of blood that tastes of tears, Mist of feelings that smells of blood, reveal the veil that sense of danger.

Lies of the snow to be believed, truth of the wind to be accepted, the wind was howling yet again.

Here lies the guilt of a man, deep in the furrows of the sea," She repeated again and again, staring at the last line. They have reached the coast. Ahead of them were the sea and a small boat docked somewhere on the side. However before that, Perona needed to find the Wine first.

Both the apparition began to float around her, curious as to what she was reading. An exclamation mark seemed to appear on one of the apparitions head as it used it's transparent hand to point at the piece of paper.

Perona looked at it, and back at the paper once more. Her eyes scanned through the words furiously, there must be something that is hidden in the words. The apparition moved its hand in a vertical direction, and Perona followed it's hand.

"The… Wine… Lies… The wine lies here!" She exclaimed. By taking the first letter of each word, it will constitute a sentence. "Wait, but it doesn't say where it is." Her shoulders slackened at the lack of enthusiasm. Her eyes continued to be fixated on the piece of paper. "The wine lies here… Here lies guilt of a man, deep in the furrows of the sea."

Does this mean that the 'Here' refers to the guilt of the man? She asked herself as she saw a flicker of hope in finding out what this sentence mean.

"The person felt guilty because he didn't trust the friend, and took the blood," She traced her steps back to the first few lines. "If I'm the person, what will I do?" She mused, she have a feeling. She is very close to solving this thorny question.

* * *

Zoro crouched down in the snow, his hand clutched tightly to his katana despite the fact that he will lose the grip any time. His body and face filled with evidence of the assault of the opponent. Blood smeared on his face with bruises around his body, his clothes now torn and battered.

"Looks like you're not as good as Mihawk thought you were," Andy mused aloud. He turned around, walking away from Zoro. The blood-tainted snow that covered his fist started to crumble away to the ground slowly.

"Oi, wait," Zoro pushed himself up, his hand still gripping tightly to his katana. He stood up, sheathed his swords, and undid the black bandana around his bicep.

"What? You still want to continue?" He asked in a dull tone, as though the opponent wasn't even worth his time. He saw Zoro tying the bandana around his head as he unsheathed his three katana again.

"It hasn't even begun yet," He shows off a smirk, his murderous intent were palpable.

"What is your motive? Is your relationship with Mihawk that deep to throw your life away for him?" Zoro's bellicose attitude piqued an interest in him.

"To defeat him and become the World Greatest Swordsman." The swordsman heart palpitated with excitement; the man in front of him was indeed a formidable opponent. He love challenges, because it meant that it was an opportunity to improve himself.

"World… Greatest…" Andy raised his eyebrow as he let out a roar of laughter, as though mocking the youngster in front of him. "Defeat Mihawk? You?"

"Stop prattling over unnecessary things," He placed Wado Ichimonji in his mouth as he glared at the opponent in front of him. "I still have some places I need to rush to," He murmured under his breath, reminding himself of Perona, and that he has no time to waste.

"That girl, huh?" He asked in a softer voice as a pang of sadness hit him. "If it's her then it's fine. She's safe, for now." He answered Zoro's inner question, at the same time, highlighting that "they" are still looking for her.

Zoro frowned slightly at the thought of it but was still glad that she was, at the very least, alive. "Then it looks like I don't really have time to play with you anymore."

The man's fist started to turn white with snow again, despite being snow, the punch was hard as steel.

"Snow Snow Fruit, huh?" Zoro asked. He has learned the hard way that taking the punch directly was not a good idea.

"Good guess, but nope," Andy answered, rushing forward to charge towards Zoro. His right hand lifted up, his palms forming globes of snow. "Yuki Katachi (Snow Form)," the globes forming from his hand was crushed down onto the ground, together with the snow, it took off to form an army of Snowmen. "Snowman Snowman Fruit," He declared.

"Huh?" Zoro wanted to laugh, he has no idea such fruit actually exist in the Grand Line.

"Don't laugh! I know what you're thinking!" He cried, annoyed. The Snowmen started to rush towards Zoro, but was rewarded with a slash to the middle of their body. "That was just a small part of my devil fruit power, as long as I know how; there is no limit to devil fruit powers!" He closed his fist tight, not allowing the army of Snowmen to revive themselves.

He proceeded to rush forward, however, instead of attacking with his snow-covered fist, he raised his leg and sent a kick towards Zoro, within second, his feet were already armoured with layers of steel-liked snow.

The swordsman made a cross with his two katana in front him with the sharp edge facing the opponent. The snow was so hard that the katana did not even leave a mark on it.

The swordsman used his monstrous strength to push the devil fruit user further away, he himself slide back with the recoil. He lifted his katana out to the side like a flying eagle as he charged towards him.

Fists meet blades as a flash of spark could be seen at the point of contact. Zoro used two of his katana to push the fist up, his third katana trying to slice across the opponent's abdomen. However, quick reflex allowed Andy to jump back to dodge the attack, he immediately charge back, using his devil fruit powers to create Snowmen to distract his opponent.

Zoro rushed fearlessly towards the army of Snowmen, he lowered himself into a stance and spun his sword around to create a tornado that slashes and blows away the Snowmen. "Tatsu Maki," He ignored the crumples of falling snow that disrupt his view as he charged towards the front.

He could feel something in front, it felt like a sixth sense, or rather a premonition that something will happen if he continue his current direction. Something rang in him. It was Haki.

His gaze sharpened, it is Haki. He closed his eyes to heighten the rest of his senses; he continued to charge in front, but not recklessly anymore.

The snow slowly fell to the floor, appearing right in front of the swordsman was the devil fruit user. One can see a triumphant smirk on his face as he already prepared his punch a few seconds before Zoro rushed out. However, before he could land his punch, something pierced through him.

"Ittoryu Iai, Shishi Sonson," Within that few seconds, Zoro have already sheathed his katana, preparing to face his opponent straight, this is a fight of speed, of the senses. He opened his eyes, he could see blood splattered on the piece of white velvet, his opponent bending down on the ground behind him.

It was not the first time he experiences Haki, but it was the first time he used it in a real death or life fight.

* * *

Perona paced anxiously on the snow, her patience running out by the minute. She has been thinking hard for the past 3 minutes! Yet, she had not come to any conclusion. She wanted to find where is the wine immediately, and return to the comfort of the boat's cabin.

Both the apparitions have returned into her body. She continued to pace around until she found something different. She came to a halt as she looked around. She have been wondering for quite some time, but there is something very wrong with the snow here.

It was as though there are steps on the snow. When she walked around, she felt some place higher than the others. Initially, she thought it might be the landscapes' problem, but soon she realized there might be something more to it.

She squatted down, her gloves-wrapped hand slide on the snow slowly. She scrutinised the steps closely. It appears that there were several other steps-liked structure around, with only about 4 inches in thickness, the weird thing was that it was not in a regular pattern. Some are in a curve, while some straight. She slammed her hand down, trying to smash the snow, making them flat. However, it seemed that it was impossible. The Snow, unlike the others around her, was much harder that there was no way to move the snow at all. She tilted her head slightly and an idea came to her.

She stood up, stepping back a few steps as she started to gather her energy to float. She ascends upwards slowly and what she saw on the ground confirmed her hypothesis.

The words, 'Forgive Me' was carved deep on the ground.

* * *

**It's quite funny how I'm able to publish more when my school started, while I can only publish 1-2 during my 7 weeks holiday. Anyway, we're coming to an end to this Mission! Anyway, tell me how you feel about all these Mission stuffs cause I have 2 more Mission coming up, not immediately though, we still have Halloween, remember?**

**So just review or give me a PM, okay? ;)**


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